[Liardo Pau]

Basque teams are very good at developing young players into La Liga-stars. Does anyone no anything about the "most gifted" players?

For instance, Athletic Juvenil B player Erik Morán Arribas are playing for the Spain Sub-17 team, and Ismael López Blanco which are the leading goal scorer for Bilbao Athletic in Segunda B. I would like to know more about them.

Iribar?

 

[Liardo Pau]

Anyone?

 

[Finrod_HELLAS]

3-4 years ago,I could give you some names,but now...???

 

[Iribar]

Erik Morán is a tall & strong midfielder, he is compared to Javi Martínez in Lezama.

Isma López is a fast attacker, plays as second striker or in the left wing. His best quality is a diabolic change of speed, which can break the legs of any defender. With Athletic in calmed positions in the league he could have chances before the league finishes, the problem is Bilbao Athletic's horrible form (Liñero... ) he's needed there to avoid relegation to Tercera.

 

[Liardo Pau]

Thank you, Iribar. Isma López sounds good :smileani:

 

[Hammer]

There's also Iker Muniain, who will come through in a few years.

Is Ramalho any good does anyone know?

 

[Iribar]

Ramalho is very good but we must have caution because we are talking about a 14 years old player who is already above the 1'80m tall. So we have to see if once he's catchep up physically by his generation teammates he continues being so good for his age.

A player Caparrós likes a lot (appart from Muniain who is the jewell of Lezama for many) is Ander Iturraspe, I talked about him in the Valencia thread. Pretty similar to Javi Martínez in his style, although he needs to gain weight.

 

[Hammer]

i didn't realise Ramalho was that young! Lets hope his progression continues. Are Muinian's cousins any good?

 

[Iribar]

Both are very good.

Adrien is a playmaker, can play in midfield or as link with the attack (Garmendia-like). He was chosen as Tercera's best player last season, when he played for Baskonia. He also scored many goals for a midfielder (9).

He's having a horrible season, as the whole Bilbao Athletic team yes, but it shows more in him (and Beñat). Why? Because Liñero's tactics consist on constant long balls from defense to attack during the 90 minutes, without passing through midfield, and people who like to play the ball as Adrien or Beñat are totally lost with these tactics. Long balls should be a resource, as any other, but not a constant. We have the best example currently in the first team. So, pure strong defensive midfielders as Eneko or Oinatz enjoy more football in BA than Adrien or Beñat.

Julen is a forward who can play on the wings, is currently playing on the right. Started in Baskonia but was promoted to Bilbao Athletic given the great level he was showing. Caparrós likes him a lot, he's fast, strong and has goal.

Muniain is called to be someone important for Athletic (let's cross the fingers, he is still very young) but I wouldn't be surprised to see him sharing changing room in the first team with his cousins, both have enough football to be Primera players, let's see if the 3 of them develop as expected.

 

[Hammer]

It would be excellent if all three made it into the first team squad. Lets cross our fingers...