Athletic Bilbao: The Basque Challenge

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 1: A Difficult Dream

As has happened continuously throughout FM24, I have taken breaks for the game before returning. Alas, here I am once more, prepared to undergo the difficult challenge of glory with Athletic Bilbao. I'm sure that many FM players have attempted this before, but I am yet to and with the game cycle running somewhat on empty, it feels like the right time to re-invigorate my interest in the game with a fresh challenge.

For those who are unaware of what the Basque Rule is, it limits Bilbao to be able to sign only players from the Basque region in Spain. In fact, under the transfer search filter, there are just 247 players that are available for transfer, and many of those aren't good enough to be considered.

The club play their football at the 53,000 plus seat capacity Estadio San Mames. It's a sizeable crowd atmosphere and that will be key to our success in home fixtures.

Bilbao are a fairly decorated club in Spanish football, although have never won anything on the Continental stage.

The main aims of the board are to maintain steady finances, and reach the Europa League, which I feel would be a good finish for us. They understandably have a desire to develop a top youth system, which will be a crucial part to our future success, as we're reliant of bringing up young talent when current players move on or retire.​

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 2: Season Planning

It is worth noting, of course, that I have not updated the teams to match the 2024/25 squads, so incomings and outgoings that have occurred in real life do not translate over and we begin at the start of the 2023/24 season. In reality, Bilbao finished in an accomplished 5th spot in that season, and we'd be happy with a similar outcome.

Key Players: I have identified 5 members of the squad as 'crucial' - they'll be integral to the way we play and we will hope that they spend their entire careers here, though that of course may not be possible.

GK - Unai Simon

One of those key figures is goalkeeper Unai Simon. I want my team to play a possession based system and although Simon has, at times, had some questionable moments with the ball at his feet for Spain, I trust his ability to play out at club level. He is a top quality goalkeeper and will be an important part of our defence.

CB - Dani Vivian

Equally as important to our defensive structure is centre-back Dani Vivian. He is similarly capable with the ball at his feet and able to step into midfield if needed, which is something I will likely look to take advantage of, as I feel he has the ability to drift in and out of midfield to provide cover and further support in building attacks.

CM/CAM - Oihan Sancet

Oihan Sancet has become something of a mainstay in Athletic Bilbao's midfield, and no doubt he will be one for me too. He's a top player with top attributes and will be the man that we run our system through - he'll connect the defence and attack and be a vital presence in the middle of the park, with fine technical ability to match.

RW/LW - Nico Williams

One of Spain's brightest stars in their Euro 2024 success, Nico Williams is arguably our prized asset. Rumours of a move to Barcelona were eventually shut down in real life, and we'll probably have to fend off interested buyers in the game too, as Williams blend of pace and trickery can make him a nightmare for any defender.

ST - Inaki Williams

It would be unfair to include one Williams brother without the other - and Inaki Williams is a verstaile attacker who can be both quick and clinical. He hasn't always been able to hit double figures but he should be a top player if we can get consistent performances out of him. He's becoming something of a club legend after making an incredible 251 consecutive appearances for the club - a LaLiga record.

We had a transfer budget of 23 million and spent the majority of it on 23-year-old defensive midfielder Hugo Guillamon. He, somewhat like the aforementioned Dani Vivian, can rotate between DM and centre-back, and should be another capable option in possession. Without a huge player pool to pick from, I feel we've made a good move for a good player who has room to improve and develop.

We weren't actively trying to sell anyone off given that it isn't so easy for us to replace those we let go, but with a few striker options available to us already, there wasn't much of a place in the squad for Gorka Guruzeta. He's off to RC Lens in a fairly inexpensive deal, but he was keen to leave anyway and so it made sense to sell him when the bid came in.

For now, the tactical setup will be as above. I think the squad has a good balance and we should be able to move the ball around the park nicely, aiming to slowly break the opponent down and create chances.​

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 3: A Positive Start

Since FM25 is no longer a million miles away, I thought it might make sense to provide longer updates. Therefore, instead of a month-by-month post, I'll incorporate 3 months in each post to hopefully move things a little quicker. I'll cover key games and show our other results in brief.

August 2023

Matchday 1: Athletic Bilbao vs Villarreal

Our season opener was a memorable one - as we put 5 past Villarreal, who are a very decent side! The game was back and forth for most of the first hour, before we pulled away late and ran away with the match. A perfect beginning.

We were a little light in midfield depth, and with a small budget available, I chose to recall Unai Vencedor, who began the game on loan at Eibar. He's good enough for fairly regular minutes here and is like a new signing in some sense.

I did manage to make another addition, however. Alvaro Djalo has just joined Bilbao in real life and it made perfect sense in my mind to do likewise here. Due to our lack of immediate finances, I've arranged the deal on a loan-to-buy basis, but he'll certainly help our wing depth. A potential front three of Djalo, Inaki Williams and Nico Williams excites me - they're all fast and tricky players so the three of them together could be a real threat.

The rest of our opening month went smoothly, as we achieved three wins from three games to start LaLiga.

Those early positives were enough to win me the Manager of the Month award in my first month in charge.

September 2023

Matchday 5: Athletic Bilbao vs Valencia

With our record still perfect, it looked like this home encounter against Valencia was set to be our first dropped points of the campaign. They had a man sent off in the 68th minute, and just a couple of minutes later we were awarded a penalty. Asier Villalibre stepped up but saw his effort saved, but he became the hero of the night when he netted a dramatic late winner in the 92nd minute!

Matchday 6: FC Barcelona vs Athletic Bilbao

By far our most difficult test so far, getting anything from an away fixture at the Camp Nou would be an impressive result for us. We played well in the first half, but Barcelona stepped up in the second and managed to produce a 2-0 win. Our first dropped points of the season.

All in all, though, the season is still progressing very smoothly. There have been no underwhelming results as of yet, as although we didn't play the best, a 0-0 draw against Girona wasn't a poor result either. They're a good side and a tough place to travel to, so we can be content with that particular draw.

October 2023

Matchday 10: Atletico Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao

Another tough away test took shape in the form of Atletico Madrid, and, for large parts of the game it looked set to be a narrow 1-0 defeat. We were behind for over an hour, but managed to rescue a point in the last minute of normal time through Inaki Williams. A very respectable and hard-earned point.

Matcdhay 11: Athletic Bilbao vs Sevilla FC

A fantastic result and performance as we thrash Sevilla 4-0. The front three of Inaki Williams, Nico Williams and Alvaro Djalo proved key here as all three got on the scoresheet, and LB Yuri also deserves a mention for a goal and an assist in a fine performance.

Our start to the season has been fantastic, and our home form has been perfect, where we've recorded 6 wins from 6 to start the season.

A few key figures deserves mentioning for our fine start:

Oihan Sancet: 10 games, 2 goals, 7 assists (Average: 7.58)
Nico Williams: 9 games, 5 goals, 5 assists (Average: 7.64)
Inaki Williams: 8 games, 6 goals, 3 assists (Average: 7.54)

League Table

We are delighted with our start to the season and that sees us sit second on the table! We've scored a healthy amount of goals, boasting the 2nd most prolific attack, whilst recording the 2nd lowest goals conceded as well. Overall, a very positive beginning with nothing worthy to complain about just yet. Long may it continue!​

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 4: Top 4 Ambitions?

After a very successful start, we'll be looking to kick on and build off that positive first three months in charge.

November was rather an uneventful months, with just the three fixtures. However, we amassed a total of 7 points in those 3 games, and earned 2 big wins against Rayo Vallecano and Granada, to vastly improve our goal difference.

December brought with it some early transfer business, as Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta will depart in January. With a thin squad as it is and little to choose from to improve, selling players is the last thing I want to be doing. However, he has hardly featured and complained of his lack of minutes. Therefore, I had virtually no alternative but to let him go.

La Liga Matchday 15: Getafe CF vs Athletic Bilbao

With a massive home game against Real Madrid just 3 days away, I rotated the squad heavily for this away game against relegation threatened Getafe. It looked the gamble was going to cost us, as we found ourselves 3-1 down at half-time. It took the Williams brothers coming off the bench to rescue a point in the final 10 minutes of the match. A game we should be winning, but, given the circumstances, we'll take a point.

La Liga Matchday 16: Athletic Bilbao vs Real Madrid

I mentioned that big game against Madrid, and we managed a very creditable 0-0 draw against the reigning champions. We played some nice football and restricted Madrid pretty well for most of the game. A largely uneventful affair, but an important result.

La Liga Matchday 18: Cadiz CF vs Athletic Bilbao

We suffer our second defeat of the season in an underwhelming showing away to Cadiz. We weren't able to really get going and both sides had few chances, but they took one of theirs and that was enough to consign us to a disappointing loss.

Perhaps more important than any signing we've made or will make - a new contract for Nico Williams. He has been absolutely phenomenal so far for us and big clubs are swirling. With his release clause at just 43m, I rushed to give him a new deal and thankfully he signed. I wouldn't want to lose him even for that upgraded release clause at 150m, but at least it would be a far more acceptable price.

We also confirmed the departure of veteran and long time club servant Oscar de Marcos. He joined the club way back in 2009 and has served 15 years with us, however he wanted to leave and I chose to abide by his wishes and let him go. He's moved to Saudi Arabia where I'm sure he'll earn a decent wage.

We got two very good wins in our other league games this month, and progressed in the Spanish Cup too. Despite the loss to Cadiz, another solid month in charge.​

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 5: A Difficult January

An intriguing month lies ahead, with some of our best players being linked with moves to other clubs. It could mean that the most important part of the window is holding on to who we've got.

I was in the market for players, and with very little to choose from, I signed 16-year-old Arnu for 475,000. This deal may never bear any signficance, but he has some potential so hopefully he can get close to that.

With de Marcos leaving, we had absolutely no depth at right-back. Jesus Areso was my first choice, but the Osasuna player recently signed a new deal. Joseba Zaldua was second choice purely because he was the next best option, and he should be a serviceable choice as deputy to Inigo Lekue.

A more exciting signing came in the shape of 21-year-old Iker Munoz. Osasuna are our rivals but are one of our main sources of players as well, as they too have a strong Basque contingent. Munoz is a promising young midfielder who should fit in nicely with the system we play.

A few of our younger players, all of whom were unhappy with minutes, have gone out on loan. Ideally, they would stay and occupy back-up spots, but I do want them to get minutes and I'll sacrifice a bit of squad depth for that to happen.

Another important new deal saw us tie down Unai Simon for the next four years. He's essentially guaranteed to be our number one for that time and it was vital that we kept him around to be exactly that.

La Liga Matchday: Osasuna CA vs Athletic Bilbao

Amidst all of the transfer action, games were coming thick and fast. We had our derby against Osasuna with a much depleted squad, and I wasn't going to be too disappointed with a 0-0 draw. However, they snatched the game at the death with one of their few shots on target.

Spanish Cup Fourth Round: Girona CF vs Athletic Bilbao

Our Spanish Cup journey came to a somewhat abrupt end as we lost to Girona in the Fourth Round. Ander Herrera has been poor all season, partially perhaps due to the fact that he's set to leave when his contract expires at the end of the season, but he hit a new low in this fixture when he got sent off just four minutes after coming on. We did well to hold out in his absence, but ultimately lost on penalties. A disappointing exit all things told.

Another club veteran is on his way out as Raul Garcia has barely featured and, when he has, he's certainly looked past his best. He's off to France to join Reims on an initial loan with a view to a permanent deal.

Our most challenging month so far saw us pick up just one league win. Having lost just once in our first 17 league games, we have since lost 3 of our last 5 and our performances have been worringly underwhelming. Hopefully once all of the transfer business has come to a close, we can focus back on our football and get back to our best.

We're still in a very respectable 3rd place right now, but Atletico Madrid are just a point behind us. A top 6 finish would be a good season in my view and we're still very much on course to achieve that.​

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 6: A Crucial Part of the Season

February, March and April are three crucial months, with just 5 fixtures remaining after these three months worth of fixtures are played. It'll give us a very good idea of exactly where we may finish this season.

La Liga Matchday 25: Athletic Bilbao vs FC Barcelona

We had a mixed January and were looking to get back on track in February. What better way to do that than record a fantastic 1-0 win against Barcelona! For a long time, it looked as if the game would end 0-0, and I would've been happy with that, but Inaki Williams crashed home a late winner to ensure an outburst of joy in the crowd and, most of all, myself.

It was a case of winning our home games and dropping points away in February. The win against Barcelona was our most memorable of the season so far, but it was bookended by a couple of frustrating 1-1 draws against Valencia and Almeria respectively.

La Liga Matchday 28: Alaves vs Athletic Bilbao

Our away form continues to be mixed, as we play out an entertaining but ultimately bitterly disappointing 4-2 defeat to mid table Alaves. The first half was relatively quiet until a late penalty saw them 1-0 up going into the break. The game burst into life in the second period, as they raced into a 2-0 lead, but, just over 10 minutes later, a brace from Asier Villalibre brought it back to 2-2. Unfortunately, our parity lasted just 3 minutes as they netted again and went on to win the game.

La Liga Matchday 29: Athletic Bilbao vs Atletico Madrid

Although we managed a 0-0 with Real Madrid and a 1-0 win against Barcelona, I'm putting this down as our most impressive performance of the season! We played superbly and completely played Atletico Madrid off the park - they registered just 2 shots in the whole of the game. We were thoroughly dominant and completely deserved the 3 points here.

La Liga Matchday 30: Sevilla FC vs Athletic Bilbao

On a day where our forwards were misfiring, our midfield stepped up to guide us to victory over Sevilla. Unai Vencedor was the unlikely hero, as he scored a brace in this one. He'd only scored once all season prior to this match and really stepped up when we needed him.

With the defeat to Alaves the only blemish to our record, we enjoyed a fine month in March. We seem to be regaining consistent and good form which is great to see as we head towards the business end of the season.

And April brought us 3 more wins in a perfect month! We thrashed Mallorca 5-0, before a close fought but ultimately successful performance against Rayo Vallecano. Even more hard fought was an away fixture to relegation threatened Granada, who limited us to just a couple shots on target, but Oihan Sancet scored one of them and that was enough to ensure a very important victory.

Although I never would've expected it, 2nd is a real possibility with just 5 games remaining. Barcelona have been out of form with just 1 win from their last 5 games, and Atletico have also suffered 2 defeats in that same time span. We, on the other hand, have won all of our last 5 games, although so too have Real Madrid, who are all but guaranteed yet another LaLiga title.​

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 7: End of the First Season

We've enjoyed a very successful first season at Bilbao - let's end it in fitting style!

La Liga Matchday 35: Real Madrid vs Athletic Bilbao

Real Madrid away is the most difficult fixture of the LaLiga season, and they've been in blistering form in the run-in. It showed, too, as they ran away 4-2 winners. We weren't shy in our approach and perhaps that cost us slightly, but at least we got a couple of goals to show some fight and bravery.

Before our final league fixture, we confirmed the permanent signing of loanee Alvaro Djalo, who had been recalled by Braga due to a recent injury. He's been good if not great on loan, but we need wing depth and he's the best available.

La Liga Matchday 38: Athletic Bilbao vs Cadiz CF

We won our final game of the season in comfortable fashion, a 4-1 rout of Cadiz. The Williams brothers were on show, as they have been all season, and it was a good way to end things in front of the home support.

It was, all in all, a rather frustrating final month, as we won just 1 of 5 games and drew 3 of them. Nevertheless, it has done little to dampen the overall mood and we're delighted with how the season went.

League Table

We do slip from second place to 3rd in the final standings, but it was very tight between us, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in 4th. Champions League football is a terrific achievement and we'll be looking forward to some tough tests against some of the world's best teams in that competition next season.​

 

[TheMaestro]

Chapter 8: The Season in Review

A season in which we overachieved - a 3rd place finish highlighting just how good we were this campaign.

One of the main aspects of our success was our magnificent home form - the best in the division! We went the whole campaign unbeaten at the San Mames and have made the place a true fortress.

By contrast our away form, whilst not bad, was fairly inconsistent - but that's to be expected after all, a lot of teams had patchy away form throughout the season, and we still placed 5th overall in terms of away record.

Key Figures: Defence

As far as our defensive record was concerned, we had the 2nd best in the division, only behind league winners Real Madrid. GK Unai Simon was just one clean sheet short of setting a Bilbao record, but can still be very happy with how he performed. So can CB Dani Vivian, who, despite being the youngest member of our starting backline, led the defence by example with commanding and assured performances.

Key Figures: Midfield

Oihan Sancet was the creative lynchpin of the team, specifically in the first half of the season, registering 9 assists and 7 goals in LaLiga. As for an unsung hero, and 31-year-old Mikel Vesga had a great season, with 5 goals and 6 assists to himself and always providing a steady presence in that midfield.

Key Figures: Attack

The Williams brothers had an intrinsic connection this season - they were both on another wavelength. Inaki had 19 league goals and 4 assists, whilst Nico had 13 goals and 11 assists!

Nico's season didn't go unnoticed - he finished 3rd in the ranking for LaLiga Player of the Season! Hopefully that attention doesn't prompt a transfer away though...

And Unai Simon managed to win himself the Goalkeeper of the Year award - a great achievement for the 26-year-old.

Nico Williams swept the end of season awards and it's fair to say he had an outstanding season.

We made few signings, but all provided useful minutes. Hugo Guillamon has become a starter whilst January arrival Joseba Zaldua proved a necessary acquisition after starting RB Inigo Lekue suffered an injury set back. Iker Munoz has shown glimpses of brightness but is yet to have a real run as a starter.

I can have no complaints with how the core of the squad played - all were pretty great, and it's unfair just to give credit to the starting eleven, because players who came in and out of the team were also valuable contributors. We didn't have the deepest squad but everyone involved gave it their all and that effort paid off.

As for the new season, one of the most difficult things about this challenge is getting better. We do have some young players, but aside from Nico, none of them have really elite potential. It's hard to improve given we have a small network of players to choose from, and very few would be obvious upgrades (the very best Basque players aren't interested in joining). We'll have to be smart in the window but the most important thing might be holding on to our current personnel, with Dani Vivian, Inaki Williams and Nico WIlliams all attracting interest from elsewhere.
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