Athletic Bilbao - Los Leones Rugientes

N1VillaFan - Thanks mate, hopefully you will enjoy the ride!
Feliks - Quique is just too good to hate on.
Denzy - Thanks, neither can I!

dat interview

Quique Flores has made his first transfer move in charge of Athletic by offloading second choice keeper Iago Herrerín to fellow La Liga side Granada

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Iago Herrerín was only brought into the club a season ago by Ernesto Valverde after leaving Atlético Madrid at the end of his contract. He only managed to grab 6 appearances for the Basque club over the entire season and was only ever at the club to be back-up to first-choice keeper Gorka Iraizoz. After the takeover of Quique Flores it is clear that the new head coach does not see Iago as a big enough part of his plans.

This move has ended the 26 year-olds second spell at the club. Iago started off in 2005 as a youngster in the Athletic set-up and made his way to be first-choice at Athletic's B team. In 2010 he was signed at the end of his Athletic contract by Atlético Madrid where he, once again, was first-choice at their B team. A season at Numancia on loan went by and at the end of the 2012/2013 season he moved back to Athletic.

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19 year-old goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga will replace Iago Herrerín as under-study to Iraizoz after impressing at Biblao Ath.

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Along with the transfer of Iago Herrerín, Quique Flores has announced that 19 year-old promising goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga has been promoted to the Senior Squad. Last season Kepa made 25 appearances for the B team and has obviously impressed enough to earn his place behind Iraizoz, the sale of Iago meaning he will be second choice goalkeeper.

Aswell as impressing his new head coach, Kepa has also impressed Spanish U21 manager Albert Celades enough for a call-up for the Spanish U21 games against Iran and Luxembourg. Kepa has been talked about as having a fantastic future in-front of him and the move up to the senior Athletic team may be the breakthrough that he needed.

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I think your writing has been amazing and I can not wait to see how well you do in this story

Today Athletic announced that the departure of Assistant Manager, Jon Aspiazu, as new head coach Quique Flores starts to build up his own coaching set-up. This is the first of a few changes that are likely to happen behind the scenes at Athletic as Quique endures to bring in his own staff.

Quique Flores came into the club with a plan and it is clear that part of the plan was to bring in his own assistant, this means that Jon Aspiazu would have to leave the club. Jon played for Bilbao in the late seventies and early eighties, Jon also had a large stint at Deportivo before moving into coaching. He started of as a coach for Athletic back in the early millennium annd made his way up to assistant manager before leaving to join Espanyol in 2007. Jobs at Olympiacos and Valencia followed before he was handed his own job back in 2013 by the previous regieme.

"I wish Jon the best of luck, however we have slightly different philosophies when it comes to the game," stated Flores. "Jon is a fantastic guy and if he finds somewhere that he fits into then he will be a valuable asset to them, but we both believe in different ways of playing football and I want to bring in someone who can help me with the plan I have for the club."

Who will Quique bring in?
Rumours have already started to circulate and the two names that have been brought up most are Ajax legend Marco van Basten and former Olympiacos assistant Josep Segurea. Quique has promised that a replacement for Jon will be found as soon as possible.

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The Layout is just too good.

Nice update aswell

Hope you develop the young players and play them zap, would be good to see any potential transfer targets.

Quique Flores has brought in his first signing as striker Iker Hernández completes a £3.4m move to Athletic from arch-rivals Real Sociedad.

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20 year-old Iker Hernández has made his move to Athletic after two solid seasons at Real Sociedad 'B', despite never managing to break fully into the senior team. However, this is something that he will be keen to do at Athletic as new head coach Quique Flores obviously sees some talent in him after splashing out £3.4m to bring him to San Mamés.

This is Quique Flores' first signing as Athletic head coach and, with selling Herrerin to make room for younger goalkeeper Kepa Arizzabalaga, it shows that he is committed to youth. This is something that the majority of fans are excited by and Quique will hope that the young prospects that he gives chances, will reward him with fantastic development.

"I am looking forward to seeing how Iker can progress," opened a happy Quique as he unveiled his first signing. "He has a lot of potential to go far in this game and I really hope that he can become as good a player as I believe he can become. We already have some great strikers at the club and Iker will have to work hard to earn his place, however I'm hoping that he can do this."

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Here Iker is playing in a Spain U19 match against the French U19 side and has found himself embroiled in a battle with new team-mate Aymeric Laporte.

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This is Quique Flores' first signing as Athletic head coach and, with selling Herrerin to make room for younger goalkeeper Kepa Arizzabalaga, it shows that he is committed to youth. This is something that the majority of fans are excited by and Quique will hope that the young prospects that he gives chances, will reward him with fantastic development.

Iker joined Real Sociedad from lower league side Antiguoko in 2009. He then went on to make 71 appearances for Real Sociedad 'B', scoring 16 goals. His performances earned him call up's for the Spain U17, U18, U19 and U20 teams, where he made 21 appearances and scored 9 goals. Despite signing from Athletic's main rivals, the majority of fans are keen to see how Iker can develop. Still a young player, Iker still has a lot of potential and fans believe that, if he can keep his head down and work hard, he can certainly develop well.

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Iker Iker Iker oi oi oi Iker Iker Iker oi oi oi

gl Zip Zap

Tallery I: Dat comment
N1VF: Thanks man means a lot!
Tallery II: Thanks!
Iconic: Developing young player is going to be my main philosophy, it always is.
Tallery III: We love you Iker, we do!
Diazepamll: Thanks Diaz Dioz

A warm, august night in Nyon, Switzerland saw the draw for the Champions League Play-Off Draws. Five of the clubs drawn, being Arsenal, Athletic, Bayer Leverkusen, Napoli and Porto, have joined the competition in this stage whilst 15 other clubs have all undergone qualifying to get this far. The first legs off this round will be played on the 19th or 20th of August with return legs a week later.

This round is separated into two categories. The Best Placed Play-Off group are for teams who have made the competition, despite not winning their league. This is generally contested with teams from the larger leagues. The second Play-Off group are for teams from generally lesser leagues who have qualified for the champions league through becoming champions of their league.

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Tough Draw but A Fight to the last second will be intresting to se the final outcomee

ooo Difficult draw, Will all come down to the Home leg, Good luck

porque haces esto zep?

Really nice story you started here, guud leck wif et.