Not even when Nico Williams became the star of a video on Monday in which he gave his number 11 shirt to new arrival Álvaro Djaló, and he wore the number 10 that Iker Muniain wore until two months ago, did the rumours about his departure from Bilbao go to rest.
The most recalcitrant spirits, often with no more information than the noise that spreads through social networks, continued to affirm that until the transfer market closes, Barcelona will continue trying to recruit him for its ranks, with strange arguments such as his friendship with the Barça players, as if he didn’t have them in Bilbao after ten years at Athletic, or his brotherly complicity with Lamine Yamal, even though he has one of his blood, Iñaki, already playing at his side.
Despite the words of the Barça president Joan Laporta, who went off on a tangent when asked about Nico – “we have a good team,” he said – the months since the end of the League have been very long in Bilbao with the soap opera surrounding a footballer who became an emerging star in the world of football after a superlative Euro Cup.
But footballing events are happening one after another and the championship of regularity is here again. The League opens at San Mamés with Athletic and Getafe as the protagonists, and the Bilbao club faces the challenge with a new spirit. After the club got rid of the burden of 40 years without a big game title, the Cup won at La Cartuja was a boost of self-esteem that included, as could be seen with the reception at La Gabarra, footballers, directors and, above all, fans, who are excitedly awaiting a season in which the team will once again play in Europe, an achievement achieved with the Cup title, but which would also have come through the League with fifth place in the table.
Ernesto Valverde will continue to lead the team for the third consecutive year, and will have in his hands a squad that is consistent, as is usual at Athletic, from which names such as Raúl García, who has retired, Iker Muniain and Dani García have disappeared, and to which two signings have been added: Andoni Gorosabel, who arrives on a free transfer from Alavés, and Álvaro Djaló, who last season played for Braga, and who, by the way, scored a goal in the Champions League against Real Madrid. Although the board is working quietly and it is difficult to know what their plans are, they still have room to manoeuvre to expand the squad.
Athletic are facing the campaign with optimism, although also with some concern due to the absence of their two regular goalkeepers in the first few games. Neither Unai Simón, who underwent wrist surgery after the end of the Euros and is out for a couple more months, nor Julen Agirrezabala, who showed his qualities in the Cup but was injured in the first days of pre-season, are available for the official debut. Valverde will give Alex Padilla, born in Zarautz, his debut in an official match, who plays for the Mexican under-23 team because of his mother’s ancestry, and Gastesi, who last season played for Basconia in the Third RFEF, will be on the bench. Both have had a lot of minutes in pre-season to get used to the competition.
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