Beating Them To The Punch: Athletic’s Third Signing
By: Paul | July 15th, 2009
According to the latest reports (here and here) Athletic have signed Real Sociedad’s 23-year-old left defender Xabi Castillo for €1 with another €600,000 in based on the player’s performances. The move actually surprises me a bit- Racing Santader, Socttish giants Celtic, and Premier League side Bolton all showed interest Actually, it’s a bit surprising we got him- a foreign club only would have had to pay compensation to Real Sociedad for Castillo as per his contract- but look who won out!. Overall I’m happy about this- while I do like Koikili and Casas, Castillo is a stronger player overall in my eyes.
According to the above goal.com article, the team is now looking into two more signings and the rumor on that is the team is going for Osasuna’s Miguel Flaño and a striker. Here’s to hoping that the team is willing to splash out some cash for Joseba Llorente.
Last, I have an announcement to make. To get some more activity on the blog and add a touch of flavor, I will be starting a “Caption This!” contest this Friday. It will work like this: every Friday, I will post a picture. Users can comment with a caption they think fits the picture, and I will announce the winner the next Friday when the new picture is posted for captioning. This Friday we’ll also be seeing the draw for Athletic’s Europa League game, so stay tuned!
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Comments | Add your comment
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Quite a tidy little player and a good signing imo. However, due to already having Koikili and cantera Mikel Balenziaga something will have to give?
Posted from
United Kingdom
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Steve, I never paid much attention to him at Sociedad, but my understanding was he’s more a holding midfielder than a defender. Some good business so far!
Posted from
United States -
It actually makes more sense to me that he signed for us, another Basque team, instead of a foreign team. I haven’t really been keeping up with Real Sociedad down in Segunda (ha, I love saying that) but I’m hearing great things about Xabi Castillo.
A Caption This ever Friday sounds fantastic!
Posted from
United States -
He played most of last season at LB for Real last season. However, that being said he can play DM and I am wondering if that will be where he will start next season instead of LB?
Posted from
United Kingdom -
I would start him at LB, use Koikili as the second choice LB, and then maybe put him at DM or LM when other options aren’t available there. We’ll see how they play him in the preseason- should be a good indicator of things to come.
Posted from
United States -
Bastards, crushing my LB dreams.
Posted from
United States -
i’m happy with this, can we now that we signed three players so far, sell some to make money and room for joseba and we signed him for a single euro? and i cant give up any of my LBs so i prefer to play him as a DM so that orbaiz would take some rest and gurpegi leaves
Posted from
Greece -
I know you guys hate real sociedad, but I think sociedad, osasuna, eibar and alaves should be our friends as we are all basques and afterall my dad is an ex-sociedad player, he was in the 70s
Posted from
Greece -
@ Aquismaia: I don’t really hate Real Sociedad (well, not to the degree that some Athletic fans do) but of course, there’s a bit of a rivalry so… a bit of fun at their expense is natural.
But true, it would be great indeed to have more than just one (or two, if you count Osasuna, although they’ll say they’re Navarrans and not Basque) Basque team in Primera.
Posted from
United States
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