It looks like the season will remain at five for the debutants on the Athletic men’s first team this season. As in the past. From Morcillo, Iñigo Vicente, Berenguer, Zarraga and Nico Williams to Agirrezabala, Vivian, Serrano, Petxarroman and Artola this one.
There may be a few more debutants in the latter part of the League, but it doesn’t seem to be. Of these last five debutants, the last to do so was Juan Artola. The red-and-white academy player, with Lezama from the juvenile category, became the 632nd lion to make his debut wearing a red and white shirt. The striker entered the field replacing Raúl García in the 78th minute of the cup match between rojiblancos and Mancha Real.
The attacker has been called up by Marcelino on several occasions and the Asturian coach has decided to give him entry to the La Juventud turf with the number 34. This is the first and only premiere of this year 2022. We’ll see if next season , certainly yes, more debuts are coming before the end of the year.
Artola was the last to make his debut and joined the list of players who have only once participated in Athletic in an official match. The forerunner of this particular classification was Andoni López. The Amorebieta player now played a duel against Girona in Montilivi. Curiously because of the ‘Amore’ shirt he also made his debut against the Catalan team, although in this case it was with Lezama.
Iñigo Múñoz, Oskar Gil, Iker Undabarrena, Jon Vidal or Isaac Aketxe are other players who have also gone through a similar situation. Farther in time are the Goyos, Crescencio Cuellar or De Val, who I recently enjoyed chatting about and despite participating in only one game (against Cruyff’s Barcelona) he remembers it very well that love and honor. How not. In total, there were 70 players who made their official debut on the first team and never played again.
I still give Artola options. Maybe next season he’ll have a chance.
last in line
In this campaign, up to three more players made their first team debut: Aitor Paredes, Ander Iru and Luis Bilbao. The case of the Bilbao defender is noteworthy. This season he has been called up up to four times by Marcelino (Cádiz, Betis and Real Madrid at San Mamés and at the Santiago Bernabéu), which should have added up to seven times last season (four to Garitano, three to Marcelino). Eleven calls to the first team, zero minutes.
I don’t know if it will be a record, but almost. The goalkeeper was called up for the duel against Real Madrid due to the absence of Simón and Ezkieta. This is the second experience for the son of Athletic’s goalkeeping coach in the first team because in the 2019-2020 season he was a substitute for Las Llanas in the Cup tie against Sestao River. The end of Berango lived up to two consecutive calls. He was at Mancha Real and was later on El Sadar’s appointment against Osasuna. He was left without a game, although if he continues his good progress it won’t be long before he has minutes on the first team, at the same time.
Is five the logical number of debuts for a youth team? To me, honestly, I know very little. Although I don’t want to debut for the sake of debuting as well. This is a debate to study. This is not another Thursday thing.
Source: La Verdad
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
