Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 115 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Nazareno Roselli has, at Athletic Bilbao, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Oihan Sancet 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aitor Paredes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Athletic Bilbao, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kepa Arrizabalaga is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 124 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Athletic Bilbao people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have shaken hands with Defensa y Justicia; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Oihan Sancet 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jesús Areso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nico Williams is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jesús Areso trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Athletic Bilbao will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Athletic Bilbao, and it is not being withdrawn.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gustavo Albarracín has just signed for Athletic Bilbao, and for once the answer mattered.
The phone has started ringing about Gorka Guruzeta again, and this time the name on the line is Olympiacos. Athletic Bilbao are listening politely and promising nothing.
At 15 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Athletic Bilbao told Aitor Paredes something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 142 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Aitor Paredes falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Athletic Bilbao will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lucas Cepeda is living that version at Athletic Bilbao, and it tends to show in the first month.
Oihan Sancet 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.
Athletic Bilbao asked and Almería said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kepa Arrizabalaga is on it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Almería have kept their man, and Athletic Bilbao go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Oihan Sancet 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Athletic Bilbao hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Aitor Paredes falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Nobody at Athletic Bilbao will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The offer went to Castellón this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aitor Paredes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Athletic Bilbao has been clear about where Íñigo Lekue stands, which is more than many ever get.
Racing Santander have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Athletic Bilbao have had the benefit of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
41 games, 16 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Athletic Bilbao now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Nobody at Athletic Bilbao will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Iñaki Peña has written the date down.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Oihan Sancet 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Aitor Paredes falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Aitor Paredes signs something — a contract at Athletic Bilbao or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oihan Sancet is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nico Williams is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Aymeric Laporte trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Yan Diomandé is 20, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 79 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Player ratings10 May 2027
A brace, and Nico Williams takes the afternoon — 8.56
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nico Williams provided it, and the 8.56 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yan Diomandé did not need any: 8.55, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Kepa Arrizabalaga 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oihan Sancet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
MatchOihan Sancet among the goals in a wild afternoon
He is 20, he is averaging 7.15, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aitor Paredes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Something was said to Kepa Arrizabalaga and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout3 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Oihan Ramírez to a room that had heard them before.
Alavés will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Athletic Bilbao were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oihan Sancet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Athletic Bilbao and Alavés, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings26 Apr 2027
Nico Williams was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.50. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yan Diomandé did not need any: 8.43, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Oihan Sancet falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Oihan Sancet was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
14 goals and a season average of 7.34 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Aitor Paredes falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Barcelona had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nico Williams is on it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
15 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Yan Diomandé, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.08
A mark of 8.08 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Kepa Arrizabalaga 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.
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Yan Diomandé, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.38
A mark of 8.38 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
14 goals and a season average of 7.30 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Oihan Sancet falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Athletic Bilbao will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Oihan Sancet 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.
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.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
A brace, and Yan Diomandé takes the afternoon — 8.45
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yan Diomandé provided it, and the 8.45 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Athletic Bilbao will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Kepa Arrizabalaga 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oihan Sancet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
14 goals in 31 games at Crewe Alexandra — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Athletic Bilbao updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Marked 8.33 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Mallorca will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Athletic Bilbao were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yan Diomandé did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Maroan Sannadi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oihan Sancet is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Yan Diomandé has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Álvaro Fernández has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Nico Williams at his very best
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Selton’s exile
Player ratingsOihan Sancet was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Yan Diomandé did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Oihan Sancet 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Athletic Bilbao heard it as anything else.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Aitor Paredes falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oihan Sancet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
12 goals in 28 games at Crewe Alexandra — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Athletic Bilbao updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Oihan Sancet is on it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Athletic Bilbao scored in the 121th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Kepa Arrizabalaga 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oihan Sancet is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The deal that would have taken Iker Varela to Cádiz has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Athletic Bilbao with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aitor Paredes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Athletic Bilbao have paid $13.2M for Iñaki Peña, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
304 appearances across 11 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Athletic Bilbao have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Iñaki Peña has just signed for Athletic Bilbao, and for once the answer mattered.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Oihan Sancet 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aitor Paredes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The clubs have shaken hands with Panathinaikos; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Oihan Sancet falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Hull City did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $19.3M for Kostantis Tzolakis, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Athletic Bilbao will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Sevilla paid $16.8M and Athletic Bilbao took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Kostantis Tzolakis has just signed for Athletic Bilbao, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aitor Paredes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Athletic Bilbao have done the hard part with Hull City, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Athletic Bilbao will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deal that would have taken Álex Berenguer to Real Madrid has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Athletic Bilbao with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Yan Diomandé is living that version at Athletic Bilbao, and it tends to show in the first month.
The offer from Cádiz for Iker Varela was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Kepa Arrizabalaga 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.
In brief
SquadOihan Sancet falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 33 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer went to Hull City this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Two goals and a mark of 8.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Athletic Bilbao have had the benefit of it.
The name of Álex Berenguer has come up in conversations Athletic Bilbao were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Athletic Bilbao offered $630.0K; Betis said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
In brief
SquadWords at Athletic Bilbao training over how hard people work
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Oihan Sancet obliged against Mallorca. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Athletic Bilbao.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Athletic Bilbao will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Mallorca will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Two goals and a mark of 8.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Oihan Sancet 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.
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.
Kepa Arrizabalaga 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Oihan Sancet falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Athletic Bilbao will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Oihan Ramírez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Athletic Bilbao lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Athletic Bilbao have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Kepa Arrizabalaga 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Oihan Sancet falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Javier Castillo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Athletic Bilbao lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Athletic Bilbao will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Oihan Sancet 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.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Athletic Bilbao heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aitor Paredes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Peio Canales has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Athletic Bilbao lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Athletic Bilbao will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Athletic Bilbao have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oihan Sancet is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Mikel Jauregizar 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Athletic Bilbao will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
8 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match21 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Athletic Bilbao. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Three points for Athletic Bilbao, 2‑0 the final word against Getafe in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Robert Navarro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Athletic Bilbao will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mikel Jauregizar and Athletic Bilbao agree another 5 years.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.48 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nico Williams is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Athletic Bilbao will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oihan Sancet is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maroan Sannadi and Athletic Bilbao agree another 5 years.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Athletic Bilbao will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Nico Williams takes the afternoon — 8.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nico Williams provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Athletic Bilbao have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Oihan Sancet falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Mallorca will replay every second of the added time for a week.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aitor Paredes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Peio Canales has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Athletic Bilbao can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Robert Navarro provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Kepa Arrizabalaga 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oihan Sancet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mikel Jauregizar has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Marked 8.08 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Athletic Bilbao will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Oihan Sancet 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.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Yago Santiago falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Athletic Bilbao will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Athletic Bilbao will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Oihan Sancet 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.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mikel Jauregizar is on it.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Successful dribbles: 11. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Successful dribbles: 41. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Oihan Sancet falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Oihan Ramírez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at Athletic Bilbao will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
5‑1 against Real Sociedad, and the songs went on long after the whistle. League positions come and go; days like this get retold at family dinners for years.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Athletic Bilbao will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them, with his name on it, and it is a year of bragging rights for Athletic Bilbao and a story that will outlast his contract.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Nico Williams is on it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Oihan Ramírez on a 5‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aitor Paredes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Enrique Ortiz has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Athletic Bilbao will be judged on one thing only.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Oihan Ramírez after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Girona; Athletic Bilbao go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 22 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Athletic Bilbao until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Athletic Bilbao hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Denis Olivera has just signed for Athletic Bilbao, and for once the answer mattered.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oihan Sancet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Oihan Ramírez after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Kepa Arrizabalaga is a Athletic Bilbao player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
The clubs have shaken hands with Girona; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Kepa Arrizabalaga is living that version at Athletic Bilbao, and it tends to show in the first month.
The offer from Ceuta for Nico Serrano was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ricardo Díaz and Athletic Bilbao agree another 3 years.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Athletic Bilbao have gone to Arsenal with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
$10.2M was the most the club would pay and Rayo Vallecano were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Athletic Bilbao, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Espanyol keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ricardo Díaz has, at Athletic Bilbao, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
Athletic Bilbao have gone to Rayo Vallecano with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Oihan Sancet 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.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Boca Juniors have kept their man, and Athletic Bilbao go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Athletic Bilbao asked and Rayo Vallecano said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Athletic Bilbao this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Àlex Fernández has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Raúl Espinosa has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Pol Molina is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oihan Sancet trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
The offer from VfB Stuttgart for Gorka Guruzeta was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aitor Paredes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.