Weeks before the end of the Euros, Unai Simón, who started six of the seven games that Spain played in the tournament, including the final, announced that at the end of the championship he would undergo surgery to resolve some problems with his wrist, which were not important in his daily life, but which caused him constant discomfort. “He has a lunate scaphoid instability,” explained Athletic’s head of medical services, Josean Lekue, about the Spanish international goalkeeper. According to the specialist, “it is an ailment that has been developing for months, whose identification and progression we have been seeing throughout the season.” Lekue confirmed that the player and the club had agreed that the operation would take place a few days after the return from the Euros, specifically on Thursday 18 in Madrid.
The surprise came when Athletic’s doctor confirmed that Unai Simón’s right wrist recovery will take between two and four months, and that the exact time will depend on the “development of the surgical procedure” and the “findings” that occur during the operation.
Initially, at the club, despite the annoyance of not being able to count on the international goalkeeper and winner of last season’s Zamora trophy as the goalkeeper who conceded the fewest goals, the news did not disturb too much, because in the chamber was Julen Agirrezabala, the goalkeeper of the Cup, of proven solvency, who contributed, by stopping a penalty in the decisive shootout against Mallorca, to Athletic’s first title in forty years. With experience in the First Division and magnificent performances against Atlético de Madrid and Barcelona in the Cup, he signed his renewal until 2027 last May.
However, just one day after Lekue announced Unai Simón’s surgery, Agirrezabala suffered an accident during the red-and-white training session in Lezama, a severe bruise which, after the radiological tests he underwent, resulted in three fractures in the right transverse processes of the L2, L3 and L4 vertebrae. In other words, he broke three lateral bones of said vertebrae. The injury does not affect the spine, although the red-and-white club is pointing to a one-month absence, which the medical services will try to reduce.
The dates, however, are very tight. Athletic will play its first league match on August 15 at San Mamés against Getafe and it is most likely that Agirrezabala will not be on the pitch that day, with Unai Simón completely ruled out, so the responsibility will fall on Alex Padilla, Bilbao Athletic’s goalkeeper last season, a 20-year-old goalkeeper, 1.90 meters tall, from Zarautz and with a Mexican mother. He played in the lower categories of the Spanish national team until the under 19s, but then opted for Mexico, with which he has already made his debut. In fact, Padilla has already played with Athletic’s first team. He did so in a friendly match in the previous preseason, against Chivas de Guadalajara, precisely in Mexico, on the red-and-white tour of that country. For now, he has the first preparation match ahead of him, on the 20th at El Plantío against Burgos. On the bench, Navarrese Oier Gastesi will be waiting, also 20 years old like Padilla, for whom he was a substitute in the Second RFEF, a category in which he played eight games, in some of them due to Padilla being called up by Ernesto Valverde. The second replacement will be Mikel Santos, 18 years old, goalkeeper for the youth team last season and who, in principle, was going to play for Basconia, Athletic’s reserve team in the Third RFEF.
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