‘All those silly things – do them’: Guruzeta’s road from injury table to success with Athletic

Thehe debut appearance Gorka Guruzeta featured in English soil, an 18-year-old appearing for the reserve team against Borussia Mönchengladbach Under-23s at Wycombe’s stadium in fall 2015, he scored. The second time he took the field in England, against the English side weeks after, he scored. The third time, against Pep Guardiola’s team not long later, indeed, he repeated the feat. Upon his comeback to Manchester to take on Manchester United at Leigh’s ground in the 2017 season, he found the back of the net. A spectacular strike, too. “Actually,” he says, “it’s a top-class goal I’ve netted.” Therefore the team did their duty: they took him off.

“I was furious,” the Athletic striker reveals, then chuckling. “There must be a video somewhere. We traveled to face United and I was in fine form. They kept me out of the latter period: my contract wasn’t finalized my contract, I was scoring goals, many stories circulated, as you’d expect. I don’t know about Newcastle being interested, but I came across reports about Man United, the typical thing. I’m not certain if it was accurate, but had they contacted me, I would have wanted to stay at Bilbao. I feel lucky to be here.”

La Real relieve strain with extraordinary derby triumph

At the training ground, the city, the early training is ready to commence; post-session, the short journey to Loiu and another flight to Britain, on this occasion to face Newcastle in the Champions League on Wednesday. Uttering the name makes Guruzeta smile. It’s turning out to be a challenging campaign for Athletic, due in part to the demands of being here. Defeated late on in the derby on Saturday, they have managed just one win of their past eight league games and lost against Arsenal and Dortmund in Europe. Yet, consider the broader view, the memorable evenings and upcoming events, and there’s a kind of quiet appreciation from him.

In the 36 months since he had returned to the club, the striker has been a final four contender in Europe, stopped at the gates a domestic final by Manchester United, and has traveled on a traditional boat up the Nervión estuary flanked by a million fans after securing the Spanish cup, the first title in 40 years. Currently he stands as the top goal-getter in the UCL, where they are distinctive and making their first appearance in a long period. “This was beyond my dreams,” he admits.

Guruzeta thought it difficult enough just to break into the senior squad and he was right. The son of the ex-La Real star Xabi Guruzeta and a dedicated fan at the team he now opposes, Gorka is a product of Antiguoko, the local academy that nurtured Mikel Arteta, Xabi Alonso and Andoni Iraola. He signed for Athletic at his teens but after making his senior debut in August 2018, he suffered a serious knee problem, the cut, a demotion and a recall before he could finally secure an opportunity, making his comeback to live the best days of the club’s history.

“Entering the youth system doubting you’ll make the senior squad but every phase you advance through you’re still there and you can notice the proximity. You make it and … departure is necessary.” He played six, nine, five, one, four and 20 minutes in a handful of matches between his first game and February 2019. “Then I was sent to the filial [Bilbao Athletic, the Under-23s]. Several appearances at that level and my knee gave way.

“A massive setback but I look back on it as something positive because it made me change the outlook. The rehabilitation process is hard, but it helps. You cultivate routines new to you. It’s not that you don’t look after yourself, but I would go to training and then go home, as a youngster does. At Lezama, you have everything, so do everything. Work, precaution. Strength training. With hip imbalance, address that. Assuming ankle mobility is good, improve it more. All those ‘silly things’: execute them.

“At the top level you’re going to collide with opponents who have been in battles countless occasions. Extremely powerful. Reviewing old images: my physique was slight. So what happens, happens. Present-day images and the change is dramatic. The setback taught me. Training finishes, but there’s more to do. Teammates are set, really ready; you have to be too.”

You also have to play. Guruzeta departed emotionally in that year, aged 23, joining the second tier. At Sabadell in that season, he scored three times in 40 games. At Amorebieta in the following period, the goals started to flow. “Players go through it: transfers, releases. Should you reverse it, work, believe, and when eventually a vacancy arises in your position, they might come back for you. Readiness is vital. When they decided to call again, it was a dream come true. The trophy success, compete continentally, and make the UCL … pfff.”

Little surprise he states this is to be enjoyed. Particularly after the prior campaign which, on occasions, was about endurance. After being leading scorer with a high tally, he managed seven in {15 games more|additional matches|