Last Thursday, August 15, Athletic started their league game against Getafe at San Mamés. That same day, in LaLiga, Unai Nuñez’s signing for Celta from the red-and-white club was made official. The curious thing about the case is that the defender from Vizcaya left the red-and-white discipline coinciding with Valverde’s return to the San Mamés bench to become one of the regulars in the Vigo team’s line-ups with Coudet, Carvalhal and Rafa Benítez until the arrival of Claudio Giráldez, the current coach, well into last season.
In Ibaigane, there was talk at the time (summer 2022) of a loan of the centre-back to the Celta club with an option to extend, which was executed last year within a contract that provided for “the possibility of a sale option for Athletic Club and a purchase option for Celta for the 24-25 season of a minimum of 7 million euros, to which certain variables are added”. In addition, according to the note from the Bilbao entity, “Athletic Club reserves a percentage of a future transfer of the player trained in Lezama by Celta”.
Athletic Bilbao have finally received a minimum fee of seven million euros for the transfer of Nuñez to Celta. Now, with no defenders in Valverde’s back line, the name of the centre-back from Repelega has once again been linked to the red-and-white orbit. Valverde had already made it clear that he did not want to count on his services, but in football you never know, and even less so in emergency situations.
Proper names
Athletic Bilbao fans are dreaming of Laporte’s return to Bilbao, but the deal seems impossible given that the left-footed centre-back earns 25 million euros per season at Al-Nassr and has contracts for this season and next season still under contract.
Another name that always comes up in the red-and-white circles at certain times is Hugo Guillamón, from Valencia.
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