In an era where football clubs are chasing new frontiers to earn more money and more access to young talents, Athletic Bilbao looks no farther than home.
In an interview to the The Hindu , club president Josu Urrutia takes immense pride for not deviating from the policy of recruiting players from the Basque region and hints that central defender Aymeric Laporte could be sold, if the club gets the right price, in January.
Excerpts:
Has the policy of signing players from the Basque region handcuffed you?
We don’t really have a choice. It’s a policy we have followed right from the time the club was founded in 1898. It might be difficult. We try to compete with what we have. We are close to our people and we want to win with our people. That is the weight we must carry from our ancestors.
In this era of globalisation, we want to be different and we are original. In political terms, this club is very special and we want to invest in our region and it is fulfilling. We are one of the three teams that has not been demoted, which means we are successful.
Do you believe you can match Barcelona’s La Masia? Can you win the title with the youths from the academy?
You need to understand that Barcelona signs kids from all over the world and nurture them in La Masia. But we have limitations. We can sign youngsters only from the Basque region. Athletic Club can sign a player from India, or any other country, if the family comes here to work in Bilbao. If a kid from the family wants to play and if he is good enough then he could play for Athletic Bilbao. We won’t go to India to sign such a player because he is good. Only if it happens naturally.
Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola has been tracking Aymeric Laporte for a while. Will you sell him if he comes up for the right price?
This summer Laporte had a price of €50 million. But he chose to stay with us and signed a new contract. If somebody comes with the right money, he can leave.
Believe it or not, we don’t need money. Our goal is to have a competitive team with a balanced budget. We have qualified for Europa League and won the Copa del Rey (King’s Cup) in the past. We have a limited market and we try to retain our players. But we will not stop any player from leaving if he wants to.
(S. Sudarsan was in Bilbao at the invitation of Sony Six)
