Whoa, didn't see this coming. Athletic Club UK @AthleticClubUK 9m9 minutes ago BREAKING NEWS: Aymeric Laporte has extended his @AthleticClub contract to 2020 - release clause of €70m! Great news!
And teams will actually have to pay the clause since Bilbao never seems to sell unless it's met and for good reason.
Wrong and wrong. Aquitaine and is not the French Basque country. You have to be Basque or trained in the Basque country. Laporte is the latter.
That's why I was curious. Saw he was French but wasn't sure if he was from right part of France. I was in the same boat where I thought you had to be born in Basque Country
I stand corrected on him being born in French Basque. I thought all of Aquitane was Basque. It appears his great grandparents were Basque, so that's why. http://bizkaia.eldesmarque.com/athl...engo-sangre-vasca-por-parte-de-mis-bisabuelos
Yeah I was wrong in that the only reason he's Basque trained is because Bilbao accepted him into the academy due to his Basque heritage. Although Bilbao does sign Spanish players with no Basque heritage but came up through the youth system of Osasuna for example.
Any idea how this works? It fascinates me that they're able to stay in the top flight while operating their recruitment like they do
I imagine he'd fit in well. Great technique. His biggest issue was disappearing in games, namely road games
I don't know the exact specifics but I presume if you come up through a Basque youth system you qualify. Borja Viguera is an example of one right now. Born outside the Basque country but came up through the Real Sociedad academy.
This is just geographical ignorance, but are there very many established clubs in Basque? I thought there weren't many
Not only stay in top flight, but remain competitive (5th in Liga this year and QF of Europa, 2nd most Copa del Rey trophies, 4th most Liga titles).
I am shocked by this Pjanic news as I was told in this thread that Juve wasn't signing any Roma players.
Bilbao, Real Sociedad, and Osasuna are the main ones. Then there's some lower division sides including Eibar who have been in the top flight (while Osasuna have been in the second tier).
He had a buyout clause. Approached them himself, negotiated his deal, and sent a letter saying he was signing with Juventus. Not really anything Roma could do.
Athletic, Santander, Sociedad, Osasuna, Eibar are the ones I can think of in top flight/recently in top flight.
Great article here, by Sam Borden (NYTimes), from last November abt Bilbao. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/06/s...l-talent-athletic-bilbao-goes-a-long-way.html
Yeah he didnt really give anyone the chance to do that. Roma doesn't voluntarily sell to Juventus was my point and I dont think anyone ever expected Pjanic to join them after 5 years on a team and city he claimed to love. He could have made more abroad and I think that was the expectation for when he left.
Which will lead to Everton having to overpay for anyone they want to buy. Between the Stones and Lukaku (if anyone is still interested) money and the new investor, everyone will know we aren't broke like we normally are.
Dear Roma, Make sure your buyout clause excludes league rivals next time, idiots. Yours Faithfully, Miserable Fans of Serie A Clubs
Not sure he wants to make the same mistake Chelsea did. Trust a small, good squad to all stay healthy and on form is not a recipe for success entering the champions league
I don't know if it is that, I think he's going to buy youth and sure it will be inflated (12 million GBP for a guy like Jannssen is wild) it just won't be a bunch of these 30 and 20 million GBP purchases.