More firepower in attack for Athletic

Athletic are strengthened in attack. The red and white club made official yesterday mid-morning the signing of Álvaro Djaló from Braga. The forward will join the red and white discipline next season with a contract that will last until June 30, 2029. Ibaigane has agreed with the Portuguese entity for a fixed fee of 15 million euros plus 5.5 in variables depending on the number of goals. scored as a lion. The total amount was made public by Braga himself, who has the obligation to immediately transfer this type of operations to his shareholders in the case of a listed entity. Hence the speed of communication on the transfer of a player who will finish the 2023-24 campaign with the team led by Artur Jorge and then end up in Bilbao.

The total cost can be 20.5 as long as the player meets 100% of the set goals. His termination clause is worth 20 ‘kilo’. In this way, the Bilbao entity is strengthening its first squad for next year where there are possibly four competitions at stake, three have already been confirmed, League, Cup and Super Cup as finalists of the KO tournament, and a fourth for old continent, either the Europa League or the Conference without the Champions League being eliminated.

Djaló24 years old, his cousin Hello Ares and of Guinea-Bissau descent, he was born in Madrid on August 16, 1999 but arrived in Bizkaia at three months old and trained at San Miguel de Basauri and at Begoña in Bilbao, until the age of 17 when he appeared in Portuguese. club, where it never stopped growing. So far this season he has scored 14 goals, five of them in the Champions League, a competition in which he shared a group with Real Madrid, and one in the Europa League. He found the net six times in the Portuguese League and twice in the Cup, in addition to providing three assists, a highly valued facet in today’s football.

This is a player who can act as a striker and as a midfielder or on either wing. “Djaló stands out for his scoring ability, linking play, pace and striking, a quality that also allows him to be a set-piece specialist,” Athletic highlighted.

To go home

Next June he will return home and wear Lezama at the beginning of July at the start of the 24-25 preseason. After passing through San Miguel de Basauri in the junior category and Begoña in the youth category, he decided to start the Portuguese adventure at the age of 17. He had no luck at first. He tried Benfica and Sporting de Portugal, but neither of these two top-flight clubs saw him with the possibility of reaching the elite. They are wrong from start to finish. The one who got it right was Braga, an entity he fell to in the 2017-18 season to join their quarry.

In August 2022, he debuted in the first team. Despite not having a starting status, he scored five goals and provided six assists in 41 games played in the Primeira Liga. His fortunes changed this season to win the title by finding the goal and providing decisive passes to his teammates.

He scored three goals in the previous rounds of the Champions League and also scored in the group stage against Real Madrid and Unión Berlin. He became a fixture for Artur Jorge in the lineups. Braga, fourth in the domestic tournament, fell into the Europa League in third place behind the whites and Naples, but was eliminated by Qarabag in the round of 32 after a 2-3 win in Azerbaijan was not worth it after losing 2 -4 of the first leg.

Djaló In September 2023, he renewed his contract with the Portuguese team until 2027, but he will end his journey three years earlier, on June 30, to return home. Next time he will be a lion.