‘All those silly things – do them’: Guruzeta’s path from rehabilitation to success with Athletic Bilbao
The first time Gorka Guruzeta featured in English soil, an 18-year-old playing for Athletic Bilbao B against Bundesliga youth at Adams Park in September 2015, he scored. On his next visit he appeared in the country, against the English side two months later, he scored. Another occasion, against Manchester City six weeks after that, sure enough, he scored again. When he returned to the northwest to play against the Red Devils at Leigh Sports Village in the 2017 season, he found the back of the net. An excellent finish, also. “In fact,” he remarks, “it’s a top-class goal in my career.” So Athletic did what they had to do: they took him off.
“I was furious,” the attacker reveals, then chuckling. “I’m sure there’s footage. We went to play United and I was pretty good. They kept me out of the second half: I hadn’t yet signed deal, I was scoring goals, many stories circulated, as you’d expect. I don’t know about Newcastle being interested, but I recall seeing about Man United, standard transfer gossip. I’m not certain how true it was, but even if they had called, I would have wanted to stay at Athletic. It’s a privilege.”
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At Lezama, Bilbao, the morning session is about to start; following that, the brief trip to Loiu airport and a further journey to Britain, this time to play Newcastle in the Champions League on Wednesday. Uttering the name makes Guruzeta smile. This is proving a tough year for the team, partially owing to the demands of competing at this level. Defeated late on in the weekend clash, they have won only one of their recent league fixtures and lost against Arsenal and Dortmund in Europe. But, take in the big picture, the big nights he has lived and those that lie ahead, and there’s a kind of quiet appreciation from him.
In the three years since he had come back to Athletic, the striker has been a semi-final participant, prevented from reaching a final at home by the English giants, and has ridden an historic vessel up the Nervión estuary surrounded by countless supporters after winning the Copa del Rey, the first title in four decades. He’s now the club’s leading marksman in the UCL, where they are countercultural and returning after absence in ten years. “This was beyond my dreams,” he says.
The player believed it difficult enough just to make the first team and his assessment was correct. The son of the ex-La Real star his father and a dedicated fan at the opposition side, the forward is a graduate of Antiguoko, the San Sebastián club that produced the Arsenal manager, the former star and Andoni Iraola. He joined Athletic at seventeen but after his top-level debut in August 2018, he went through a torn cruciate, the cut, a drop in category and a return before he could truly get a chance, coming back aged 26 to enjoy the highlights of the club’s history.
“Joining the setup not expecting to reach the top level but every phase you progress through you’re still there and you can notice the proximity. You arrive and then … you have to leave.” He played six, nine, five, one, four and 20 minutes in a handful of matches between his bow and February 2019. “And then I go back down to the filial [Bilbao Athletic, the Under-23s]. Five, six games there and my knee gave way.
“A massive setback but In retrospect as something positive because it shifted the outlook. The rehabilitation process is difficult, but it helps. You cultivate routines new to you. Previously I was casual, but I would go to training and then return home, as a youngster does. In the facility, you have everything, so take full advantage. Work, precaution. Get in the gym. If your hips aren’t balanced, correct it. Assuming ankle mobility is good, improve it more. All the minor details: do them.
“In the first team you’re going to face physical challenges who have experienced contact 200,000 times. Highly robust. Reviewing old images: I had slender legs. So what happens, happens. Present-day images and the change is dramatic. The setback taught me. Practice concludes, but there’s more to do. Teammates are set, really ready; the same applies.”
Minutes are crucial. Guruzeta departed in tears in 2020, at 23 years old, joining the second tier. At Sabadell in that season, he got three strikes in forty appearances. At Amorebieta in the second half of 2021-22, the goals started to flow. “It’s a common path: temporary moves, ended deals. If you turn it round, work, believe, and should the time come they need someone where you play, recall is possible. You have to be ready. When they decided to call again, a fantasy realized. The trophy success, European football, and qualify for Europe’s top tier … pfff.”
No wonder he says savor the moment. Particularly after the prior campaign which, sometimes, was about endurance. Previously the main threat with a high tally, his output dropped to seven in {15 games more|additional matches|
