Yeray’s maturity in Athletic

Yeray Álvarez is no longer a child. Not in age, far from it. At 27 years old, he still has many good years left in football, and I hope for Athletic.

I’m talking about his maturity in football and the weight he already has in the rojiblanco dressing room. These are stripes he has earned for his career, seven seasons in the first team and nine games in 200 officials, and for his performance.

Undisputed starter, or almost undisputed, since he debuted under Ernesto Valverde in 2016, for all the coaches who passed through the rojiblanco bench. The maturity of the Barakado center-back is also referred to in his statements. Undoubtedly, we are dealing with a different version of Yeray. A version I like.

I wrote it the other day and I stand by it. Yeray’s football career has a profile similar to that of Carlos Gurpegi. By the way, who knows if the future gives them the opportunity to coincide as coach and player. I think one from Barakaldo will have more sports experience than a Gurpe, which is quite a lot. I also don’t think Yeray reached the charisma that Andosilla had and still has.

But Athletic fans are hooked and there are plenty of one-of-a-kind footballers like Yeray. And let’s not kid ourselves, he was a player who beat us more a few years ago, in 2016, he gave us an example of life after overcoming a testicular tumor. It is something I will never forget. How can I never forget what Gurpegi had to survive his stage as a player. Without comparing the situations, because they cannot be compared, I hope that the similarity in both cases is understandable. And it was that Yeray also suffered from broken noses and other issues that Gurpegi suffered from during his time as a lion.

A dream come true, but…

Next November the World Cup will start in Qatar where it looks like Yeray will not be called up. And that in some prelists is included. In an interview on DTD he was blunt about it: “Since I was young I dreamed of playing for Athletic and I have achieved it. I have no more dreams, no more ambitions. My only possible dream is to win another title at Athletic and that is what I give importance to”.

This is another reflection of the age he is referring to. By the way, I did not remember that Yeray was not far from the last World Cup, the one played in Russia in 2018. The then Spanish coach Julen Lopetegui called him as one of the seven players to complete the training. session before the appointment. Yeray was accompanied by Unai Núñez and Iñaki Williams. None of the three were able to leave. The Atletico striker is in Qatar, but with the Ghanaian team.

Yeray was one of the first to give a name and surname to the team’s goal: “If there’s one thing that’s clear to me, it’s that we have to fight for the top positions from the start”. So far, they are fulfilling it, and in what way. The Pizjuán test came out that way.

I think they lost two points more than they gained one. An important date arrives on Saturday in San Mamés against a direct rival today for the European positions. The future is one of the appointments that motivates the staff: for the visitor, for the coach on the mattress bench and because this Athletic wants to show that along this calendar it can also achieve victories. It wouldn’t be a thing on any other Thursday.