"Guru can score easily"

Gorka Guruzeta He is currently the only Athletic signing for the 2022-23 season. The striker from San Sebastian came on a free from Amorebieta to bolster the center forward position, somewhat lame in recent years with a pure striker in the squad, Asier Villaliber.

Teacheras is familiarly known in Lezama, came to Bilbao from Antiguoko — as happened in the case of some other high -level lions, such as Aduriz at Iraola– to play for Basconia and eventually be promoted to Bilbao Athletic. His good numbers in the subsidiary in the 2017-18 season (he scored 18 goals), allowed him to move up to the first team, where he played six League games and three Cup games.

The following season, he returned to play in the subsidiary and at the end of the season he suffered a very serious injury. He tore the cruciate ligament in his right knee in a match against Sporting B. The following year he played for the second team again and, as often happens, he was forced to pack his bags to sign Sabadell with Second Division. There he began to make a name for himself to return to Bizkaia. Amorebieta is his destiny. His good role as a blue footballer — he scored thirteen goals — served him to return to Athletic, with streaks already in place to try to win a position under the command of Ernest Valverde.

Mundo Deportivo sought the opinion of two men who knew him well. Inigo Velez de Mendizabal he trained early last season at Amore and Michael San Jose That was her partner in the wardrobe. The Gasteiz coach couldn’t explain enough because he was absent, but he had time to make sure the striker was “in very good condition and an ideal age to exploit” and “as a man he was a 10”.

Together in Bilbao and Amorebieta

The Navarran midfielder, who has not yet decided on his future for next season, has conducted a detailed examination of the new rojiblanco footballer. He knew him very well, first as a teammate at Athletic and last year at Urritxe, even though they played at home on pitch 2 with Lezama. “He’s a very different football player because of everything he’s improved and learned compared to what a lot of people will remember about him when he debuted with us years ago. He’s a footballer to make. of giant steps forward. Having to keep going and playing after the injury he sustained helped him to have more confidence, to have the courage to do things ”.

Guruzeta you can play the reference above and even behind. “It’s a very different profile to what it is Inaki (Williams), villalibre either sancetwho also acted as a striker along with Marcellin. He never stops being a scorer. Both on his right leg and on his left and on his head, he has ease in dealing with the opposite goal, bridging the gap a bit, in the style of Raul (Garcia). He manages time very well and has the ability to score goals in any situation. With us at Amorebieta he has grown a lot in the game. He was a player who played midfielder, a striker, broke into space and came down to receive. We have been him as a reference player for everything, he helped us play when we played more and he helped us stretch when the team needed it ”, explained the Villava man.

Santo Joseph He was in the Sevilla area when Guruzeta led his only goal as a lion in a Cup match played on January 16, 2019. “I see it on the front page. This is a great goal. I have noticed a lot of improvement in him, especially in personal maturity, in confidence, in self-satisfaction, in removing the pressure that is for Athletic, who has scored a lot of goals and is playing on the first team. People expect a lot from you and the striker Aduriz. Everyone compares you to him. Over time and especially after the injury, the fact of playing, coming out and watching other football outside of Lezama has helped him greatly. He plays with confidence which is fun to watch. He may fail, but he persists, he always tries and is satisfied. Last season I saw him enjoy it a lot. When he enjoys, he is a differential footballer ”, he added.

Fans of rojiblanca will not find the style of the player of the last great scorer. “It’s not a style. Aduriz, is not an absolute reference nine, he is a player who holds the ball very well with his feet, trying to do things unusual for a striker, protect the ball, spin, dribble. He also has midpoint gestures. With us in Amorebieta he played on the wing with 4-3-3, with the ability to sacrifice, he could do everything ”.

With Villaliber

It is also different from villalibre, the purest battering ram: “We’re talking about different profiles. Asier is the purest profile of a striker, but it’s also true that he doesn’t have the continuity that many of us believe he should have in order for him to finish starting and show all he has inside. I’m sure he’ll release it. Guru is a different style. Although he is fast and manages the defenses and the offside line very well, but he is not as fast as Iñaki or Villa, but he can go into space perfectly.

The lack of goal has been Athletic’s major handicap since being eliminated Aritz Aduriz. Can this be the solution? “All his life he has scored goals and he has also scored them for us at Amore. All I can say is he has a facility for scoring, it is something that is not only seen in games but seen every day in training .That I saw, as I saw in Aduriz o sa Raul. I think the problem of Athletic’s goal is more global, in all lines of the team, I hope he can help that “, he concludes San Jose.