Marked for Yeray
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Unai Simón and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Valentín Rodríguez has, at Athletic Bilbao, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
No hiding place for Yeray
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yeray, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Yuri stands above it all
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.31 on the card, and the Athletic Bilbao support went home talking about one name.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
When it matters, Yuri plays
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Gabriel Santos was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Athletic Bilbao dressing room was either.
Match19 Sep 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Real Sociedad defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
Real Madrid come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Athletic Bilbao did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Paulo Moreira gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Paulo Moreira has just signed for Athletic Bilbao, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Unai Simón and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aitor Paredes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Athletic Bilbao asked and Atlético Tucumán said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market17 Aug 2026
Yeray is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Athletic Bilbao has been clear about where Yeray stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad17 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Athletic Bilbao are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Athletic Bilbao say no to the training-ground money
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
439 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Vicente Guaita gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Vicente Guaita has just signed for Athletic Bilbao, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Yuri signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yuri commits to Athletic Bilbao for another 2 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Unai Simón was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Barracas Central: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
Unai Simón asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market3 Aug 2026
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Market3 Aug 2026
Vicente Guaita is 39 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.