Athletic Bilbao: Basque-ing in Glory

SOLA SIGNS FOR UDINESE

Athletic Bilbao forward Kike Sola has signed for Serie A club Udinese following the arrival of Fernando Llorente.

Udinese completed the £6 million signing for the striker who was rumoured to be heading for the exits after Bilbao snapped up Llorente and Imanol Agirretxe.

The Spaniard, who shadowed Aritz Aduriz in the past three seasons, signs a new two year deal with the Italians worth £35,000 and is expected to cover for Colombian star Luis Muriel following the retirement of Antonio Di Natale.

Sola joined Bilbao from Osasuna back in 2012 for a free having been benched by the then inform Nino.

The 29 year old seemed to have a considerably better time in Bilbao as he helped his team to a Copa Del Rey title and a league finish of 3rd, 5th and 4th with 23 goals in 76 games.

Pre-Season 2015/2016

B. M’Gladbach 2 – 1 Ath. Bilbao

Zalla 2 – 8 Ath. Bilbao

Baskonia 1 – 6 Ath. Bilbao

Player to Watch

Iker Muniain

At 22 years of age, Muniain’s time is coming and this could well be the year he leads us to further glory. We were unfortunate to miss him through injury for large periods last season but 6 goals in 3 games shows just how exciting this lad can be for us. I’m expecting very big things.

Oceano’s Verdict

We slacked versus Borussia Monchengladbach in our first pre-season encounter and just couldn’t handle them physically. It’s understandable considering this was already their fifth friendly of the season whereas we were only on our first. Since then, our fitness has upped and we looked very dangerous against Zalla and Baskonia, albeit against weaker teams. Not a bad pre-season. It could have been better but it could also have been worse.

Important Announcement

Unfortunately ladies & gents, I will have to end this story here. I'm still experiencing many technical issues on my end and without knowing when those will be resolved, it makes it very hard to pick up the story again after such a long time, taking into consideration that we all will set our focus back to school etc.

It's been a great journey thanks to all of you. The feedback received from this story has been very positive and I've been delighted to see I've even inspired some on this site to enter the story writing game. That is the ultimate goal of satisfaction for any writer and I am glad that has been achieved.

If you told me I would get over 40,000 views here within around a month, no chance would I believe you considering my most popular story before was only lurking around 3,000/4,000 hits. It's great to see how popular this has become and who knows, I may return with a FM14 story in the future.

Regarding Story of the Month, I have no idea what happen so you all have to fill me in on that. Without sounding cocky or whatever, I know my story was quite strong so there is the possibility of a nomination so if that's the case, I owe that to you guys because the startling thing about my story has definitely been your response.

I didn't get to vote and I would like to say that my vote would have gone to Iwalter66's Oriental Lisboa story, which I believe ended. Iwalter66's story for me has been a great breath of fresh air and I hope I'm right in thinking it was a nominee (I've tried to see the nomination forum but can't find it.)

I'd also like to congratulate tbendis who is this month's winner. He come very close last month and not only does he have a great story, but he's also an example to all new writers who crave for that feedback but just can't get it - he just kept on going and a few months down the line, here he is as our monthly champion. Congratulations Timmy!

Overall, it's been a pleasure. Thank you all for reading my story and who knows we may even see a part 2 come FM14 :D