Los Leones - An Athletic Bilbao Guide

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Scotty98TR said:
Anyway, thanks for your answers guys, this basque only rule is much harder (And much more fun) then I thought it would be! Going to keep Herrera now :)
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Hey Scotty.

Following our previous conversation about signing Spanish U-16s I took a look around to get some more info on it. Basically what I gathered is that Bilbao would never sign a 15/16 year old unless they had Basque heritage. For someone to be eligible basically they would need something along the lines of the following:

1) At least one basque parent
2) To have been raised within the Basque country
3) If both parents aren't Basque, they would need to have been raised in Basque country from a VERY young age, and even then they might say no, there is some sort of exception rule for this. So this is where the 16 year old spaniards comes in...in reality this would never qualify them to play for Bilbao.

So basically, being able to sign 16 year old Spaniards on the game is a loop hole and probably shouldn't actually be there from what I can gather.
 
Bowieinspace26 said:
Hey Scotty.

Following our previous conversation about signing Spanish U-16s I took a look around to get some more info on it. Basically what I gathered is that Bilbao would never sign a 15/16 year old unless they had Basque heritage. For someone to be eligible basically they would need something along the lines of the following:

1) At least one basque parent
2) To have been raised within the Basque country
3) If both parents aren't Basque, they would need to have been raised in Basque country from a VERY young age, and even then they might say no, there is some sort of exception rule for this. So this is where the 16 year old spaniards comes in...in reality this would never qualify them to play for Bilbao.

So basically, being able to sign 16 year old Spaniards on the game is a loop hole and probably shouldn't actually be there from what I can gather.
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I'd been told otherwise, like I had said on the other post. But I had just taken their word for it, so you are probaly right! :)

Unfortunatly, I have already signed 2 spanish U16s, but from now on I'm not going to sign any :)
 
Scotty98TR said:
I'd been told otherwise, like I had said on the other post. But I had just taken their word for it, so you are probaly right! :)

Unfortunatly, I have already signed 2 spanish U16s, but from now on I'm not going to sign any :)
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There are a few players in the current squad who fit in the exception area I mentioned before...for example:

Jonas Ramalho - Not 100% Basque (has a Basque mother and Angolan father or something like that), but was born in Barakaldo and grew up in Basque country.

Fernando Amorebieta - Born in Venezuela but has Basque parents and was brought up in the Basque region.

Aymeric Laporte - Not sure on his parents, but he was born very close to Basque regions in France and went through the academy system of a Basque club over there before joining the Athletic system in 2010.

Certainly nothing like signing a Spanish 16 year old! Maybe someone can prove me wrong though, I'm still learning more about the club
 
Scotty98TR said:
I'd been told otherwise, like I had said on the other post. But I had just taken their word for it, so you are probaly right! :)

Unfortunatly, I have already signed 2 spanish U16s, but from now on I'm not going to sign any :)
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Hey Scotty.

How are you getting on with your Bilbao save?

I'm in 2023, struggling with a lack of quality Basque defenders! I have a young 17 year old coming through, but apart from that it's dismal. I've had to retrain players to play RB and LB as I haven't had a Basque full back better than 2 stars yet and Azpilicueta is now 33 and well on the decline. I do however have an absolute hero player, who started as a DM, but is now natural in DM, CM, RB and LB and is rated 5 stars.

I've had decent La Liga success, but the Champions League has so far evaded me (Barcelona have won it 4 years in a row, knocking me out in the semi finals 3 times!).
 
Bowieinspace26 said:
Hey Scotty.

How are you getting on with your Bilbao save?

I'm in 2023, struggling with a lack of quality Basque defenders! I have a young 17 year old coming through, but apart from that it's dismal. I've had to retrain players to play RB and LB as I haven't had a Basque full back better than 2 stars yet and Azpilicueta is now 33 and well on the decline. I do however have an absolute hero player, who started as a DM, but is now natural in DM, CM, RB and LB and is rated 5 stars.

I've had decent La Liga success, but the Champions League has so far evaded me (Barcelona have won it 4 years in a row, knocking me out in the semi finals 3 times!).
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Sorry been away for a week!

I was top of La Liga by around 5 points, I was in the final out of the Copa Del Rey against Deportivo and I was in the Quater-Final of the Europa League in the first season, but then my laptop died and I gave it to my brother to try and fix (He used to work as an IT technician). Unfortunalty it was pretty messed up, so I didn't get it back 'til just before I went on holiday and by then I had started a Blackpool save, so at the moment I haven't continued with it yet.

I keep feeling like I want to continue it again but I'm going to do a few seasons with 'Pool before I decided wether to or not!
 
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Out of interest, how long does it take you to complete a season roughly? Seems to take me ages and I don't really know why... Do you do interact with the media, watch comprehensive highlights, etc? :)
 
Bowieinspace26 said:
Hey Scotty.

How are you getting on with your Bilbao save?

I'm in 2023, struggling with a lack of quality Basque defenders! I have a young 17 year old coming through, but apart from that it's dismal. I've had to retrain players to play RB and LB as I haven't had a Basque full back better than 2 stars yet and Azpilicueta is now 33 and well on the decline. I do however have an absolute hero player, who started as a DM, but is now natural in DM, CM, RB and LB and is rated 5 stars.

I've had decent La Liga success, but the Champions League has so far evaded me (Barcelona have won it 4 years in a row, knocking me out in the semi finals 3 times!).
Click to expand...

Decided the other day that I missed the Athletic game, but the save file was corrupt! :'(

Luckily I had an earlier save, but I only autosave every 2 months so I've lost alot of data. To make up I started watching the matches in good old 2D, as it is faster... this time I didn't win the league, only got a few games to go but can't see barca dropping any points now. I didn't have to go back so far before the Copa Del Rey semi-finals so still got to play that, but i just won the Europa league against Benfica! They were the better team in the final, but my 70th minute sub scored (Igerretxe - he has now got 34 in his debut season!)

I am hoping to get a larger budget next year, as although I have some quality young players coming through, I only have 2 good CBs, and I would like to get either Griezmann or Ruffier if that is possible (For CB I am wanting to get the Inigo Martinez)

I am litteraly just about to play the Copa Del Rey final against Deportivo, after than I have them in the league, but as I said Barca have already got the title, they would have to lose by about 10 goals and me to win by 10 goals for me to win it lol.

How did Galarreta do for you? He came second behind Muniain in young player of the year, and has been quality along with Cantin!

EDIT: Regarding not having a LB or RB, how did Ramalho, Aurtenetxe and Etxeberria develop for you, as they seem to being doing well so far for me?

EDIT #2: I lost the Copa Del Rey, I dominated the match, had 3 CCCs and hit the post with a penalty, but then they scored from a free-kick, we equalised through Susaeta then he went and got himself sent off for violent conduct! We still dominated after that and through-extra time, but we lost on penalties 1-4 :'(
Gutted, but we did really well to get to the final bearing in mind we had to beat Real Madrid, Atl. Madrid and Valencia twice each!
 
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Has anyone bought back Llorente before? I just bought him at the start of the 3rd season for £34.5m from Spurs (Sold him right at the start for £31.5m)
 
Playing the B Squad

Hi all, love playing the Athletic game, awesome challenge!I'm struggling with getting my non starting 11 some pitch time though. If i move some players to the B Team the manager sends them back and i know i'm wasting talent. Any ideas??
Cheers
 
Started a save with Bilbao and I have signed Benat and upgraded our youth facilities. Using my own 4-2-3-1.
Btw, are there any other basque clubs.
 
minergy said:
Started a save with Bilbao and I have signed Benat and upgraded our youth facilities. Using my own 4-2-3-1.
Btw, are there any other basque clubs.
Click to expand...

Real Sociedad and Osasuna are the main 2 others, but of course there are loads outside La Liga BBVA
 
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