‘No miracles or gifts in Eibar survival’

Borja Ekiza will leave Eibar this summer, but the defender insists his side did not need any “miracles or gifts” in their La Liga survival bid.

Ekiza has played just 19 times for Eibar since arriving from Basque rivals Athletic Bilbao in the summer of 2014 due to constant injury problems, and he refused to rule out a move abroad once his contract expired in June, although he hoped to feature in Sunday’s curtain call against Espanyol.

“It’s been a season of ups and downs,” he said at a Press conference.

“On a personal level, I had an operation last year. I arrived in time [for the season], but the team had already been set up.

“We started well, winning games and with confidence of everyone.

“It’s too bad for me that I had a major injury. I recovered for one month, but it was still difficult for me to enter the team.

“The secret [to us staying up] is the unit. From the first moment [of the season], the players were united.

“This team are more than just teammates. You just need to spend a day with the squad to see that we’re all friends.

“Survival wasn’t a miracle because we did a great job. In the first part of the season, we weren’t any gifts and played good football.

“There were no miracles, just a lot of hard work.

“My time at Athletic was a little disappointing, but I still had a good time there as I enjoyed two finals.

“It was a very different experience than the one I’m living at Eibar, but the truth is that both have been very good.

“My time at Athletic coincided with ‘Loco’ [Marcelo] Bielsa, who from the outside looks serious but in the dressing room was a warm person with whom I could talk a long time.

“I learned a lot from him and what surprised me the most was how hard we worked on physical condition.

“I’m leaving Eibar, and I’d like to play the last game because it’d show that I left on a high.

“In the future, I don’t know where I’ll play, although it’s true that I like this League.

 “Any of [the Premier League, Serie A or Greek Super League] would be new challenges that I won’t rule out.”

Tags Borja Ekiza injury Transfers
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