2015-16 Season Preview: Athletic Bilbao

Coach: Ernesto Valverde

Key Signing: Gorka Elustondo

Key Sales: Andoni Iraola

Last Season: 7th

This Season [predicted finish]: 8th

Predicted finish is the average prediction of the Football Espana team.

Had this piece been written a week ago, it’s doubtful that it would be as optimistic. Nor would the fans or anyone connected to the club. Yet, after thrashing champions Barcelona 4-0 in the Supercopa on Friday, Athletic Bilbao fans will start to believe there is hope yet. And why shouldn’t they?

Juggling La Liga and European commitments proved too difficult last year, after 16 years without Champions League football. Again they must do the same, this time in the Europa League, which means more games and more travelling. While most of the teams in Spain won’t kick a ball competitively until the end of the week, Athletic are already a few weeks deep into the season, their summer holidays cut short as they travelled to Azerbaijan to ensure safe passage into the group stage.

How deeply this may affect them is wholly dependent on how far they’ll go in the competition, but Valverde will have learned his lesson and may get the balance right this time around, keeping his team fitter in the process.

Bilbao’s main problem is keeping up with everyone else. Teams above and below have spent big this season and that isn’t Athletic’s style, although they have done some business, most notably bringing in Gorka Elustondo from Real Sociedad, Javi Eraso from Leganes and Eneko Boveda from Eibar, all for free.

But without the ability to scour the globe for the world’s best talents, Athletic must, as they’ve always done, rely on the youth emerging from arguably the best academy on the planet. They’ve never been afraid of throwing their youngsters in the deep end – and so it proved, as they handed a full debut to Sabin Merino against Barcelona in the Supercopa first leg. He was substituted for Inigo Lekue, also making his debut. Expect both to feature in the future, as did Inaki Williams, Unai Lopez and Ager Aketxe last season and subsequently should be more prevalent this year.

While the youth continue to impress, however, it is some of Athletic’s more experienced players who are seeing them across the line. That became glaringly evident as veteran striker Aritz Aduriz put three past Barcelona on Friday. Despite his age, the 34-year-old had his best season to date in 2014-15, scoring 26 goals in all competitions.

Another experienced player Valverde may look to rely on is Iker Muniain. At 22, he is hardly a veteran, yet the winger is pushing 300 matches after making his debut at 16. A cruciate-ligament injury will see him out of action for some time, though his return will be akin to a new signing, which will lift the side later in the campaign.

Without any big-name transfers and an early start to the season, writing Athletic off is easy on paper. However, their performance against the champions highlights just one of the ways in which they defy the odds. The competition is getting tougher, but Bilbao always seem to find a way.

La Liga - Club News