Football Season Guide

Last season has to go down as a disappointment for Athletic Club, who desperately wanted to return to European football. With a new president and Ernesto Valverde back as coach, they believed they could achieve it, but finished eighth for the second season in a row. That means it’s now six seasons in a row without European qualification, which is too long for this club’s fanbase to stomach. As such, they’ll once again make an effort to finish in the European spots in 2023/24. They’ll aim to achieve this with largely the same squad, as there is rarely much change in personnel in the off-season at this club, given their Basque-only policy. The only major changes are the arrival of Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta from RCD Mallorca to beef up the midfield and the departure of centre-back Inigo Martinez to Barcelona, but Dani Vivian has shown he is more than ready to be a starter in the back line. Without many changes, the strengths and weaknesses remain largely the same. The strength is that this is a well-coached and well-organised team that defends solidly and that competes hard week in week out. The weakness is the same as it has been for some time, that Athletic Club lack a reliable finisher. The Williams brothers, Nico and Inaki, are both dynamic in attack, but neither can consistently score. If Athletic Club still can’t take their chances, Europe will be hard to reach.