Mikel Jauregizar is a miracle
The odds have always been stacked against Mikel Jauregizar. The fact that he is contributing significant minutes on one of the most in-form teams in Spain at just 21 is nothing short of a miracle.
By all available logic, by the predictive machinery of elite football development, Mikel Jauregizar should not be where he is today. There were no highlights reels as a 15-year-old, no Twitter threads proclaiming him the next big thing. And yet, here he is: 21 years old, logging serious minutes for one of the most in-form sides in Spain. If it feels like the proliferation of video scouting, data accessibility and broader coverage of every aspect of football doesn’t allow for miracles anymore, Jauregizar is one.
Athletic Club are an institution that, by design, leaves as little to chance as possible. It might feel players appear from nowhere but the club is too well prepared to miss. They have to be. They have over 160 formal ties with clubs across the Basque Country—part talent pipeline, part surveillance network. Fifteen full-time staffers track every rising star in the region, all tasked with feeding the singular, self-imposed constraint that defines the club’s identity: if you want to wear the shirt, you have to be from here.
They don’t dip into the transfer market to patch over a missed prospect. Which makes Jauregizar’s late arrival, signing for the club only in 2021, all the more anomalous. Jaurezigar wasn’t lost in the system. He simply wasn’t part of it, at least not until he’d outgrown every team he played on before arriving at the elite.
His trajectory wasn’t long in terms of physical distance - Bermeo to Basconia to Bilbao Athletic to San Mamés - but in terms of the leaps he has taken, each step was monumental. A quiet, efficient and yet meteoric climb. His childhood friend and now teammate, Unai Gómez, had been in the system since he was 11. Jauregizar showed up a decade later and not because he was flashy, but because he was reliable — in that way that makes coaches trust you before anyone else does.
He made his debut last season. 145 minutes. Barely a footnote even for those paying full attention. This season, he has clocked almost 3,000 in all competitions as Athletic Club sit in pole position for the Champions League and are just 180 minutes from a Europa League final.
Athletic Club's philosophy might never see them push for a LaLiga title and into the upper reaches of Europe's elite but they are practically never not competitive.
Under Ernesto Valverde's watch, the first team are entering somewhat of a golden age. Under Mikel Gonzalez's directorship, the club in general is following a similar path.
They won their first Copa del Rey in over 30 years last season and are the favourites for a top four place this season. Bilbao Athletic, the team's second team, have recently been promoted back to Primera RFEF and, as sporting director Mikel Gonzalez says, Ernesto Valverde has improved each player in his squad to a man. For Mikel Jaurezigar to break into the team having arrived at the club so late in his teen really is nothing short of miraculous.
Valverde's Style
To better understand the importance of central midfielders being multi-functional and dynamic in Valverde's system, we'll first take a look at how they play. They have the fifth best xG difference per 90 in the league (+0.48) behind the big three and Villarreal. Their style is built around being intense and physical. They make hay in the chaos of offensive transitions and they’re stingy in defensive transition. They allow just 0.97 xG against per game, which is second best in the league behind Atlético (0.93).
Valverde's 4-4-2 often looks something more like a 4-2-4 out of possession. The opposition has, typically, two options when they do this. They can move the ball out to the flanks with the Williams' brother usually on the left and right of midfield stepping forward and the fullbacks jumping out to prevent the opposition from making progress. This puts a big defensive burden on the two central midfielders, who have to be aware of attackers dropping off the front line but also being ready to step out and make sure the numerical superiority is maintained on the wings. It's a large area they are responsible for with no cover. As we can see against Villarreal, the 4-2-4 shape is obvious with the two central midfielders on an island in the middle.
The other option the opposition have is to go long where Athletic Club's physical centre-backs can compete in the air against the opposition. This is when the fun begins for Athletic Club's central midfielders. It places the burden on them to pick up the second balls. They have just 48 build-ups against, sixth fewest in LaLiga.
They have the fifth most duels in the league (3,294) but have the lowest win percentage in these duels in he entire league. The most important point in how they play, however, is the amount of ball recoveries they have. They have the second-most recoveries of all the team in LaLiga behind only Rayo Vallecano.
Jauregizar isn’t physically imposing per se but his reading of the game is well beyond the age on his passport. There are only 15 midfielders 21 or younger to play more than 1,000 minutes in LaLiga so far this season and Jaurezigar leads them all with 5.86 ball recoveries per 90. This is how they provoke transitions. This is how they hurt you.
Valverde knows he has some of the best and most energetic defensive midfielders in LaLiga with the ability to rotate Ruiz de Galaretta in as needed - it has become a three-man rotating cast with Jauregizar playing 1,934 minutes, Prados 1,544 and Ruiz de Galarreta playing 1,195. Mikel Vesga has played 859 too, increasing those minutes with the Europa League run but the future is here and it involves a midfield with Jauregizar in it.
Athletic Club's Man In The Middle
When we look at Athletic Club's midfield in its totality, it extends from Beñat Prados as the destroyer to Oihan Sancet as the artist. Despite the varying shades of midfield profile they have in between these extremes, none of them are as close to the middle as Jauregizar.
Mikel Jauregizar is Athletic Bilbao's man in the middle. Quite literally, the link between the base of midfield and the central attacking midfielder. He's not a pure defensive midfielder like Prados and he's not a creative 10 like Sancet but has a little bit of everything that Ernesto Valverde needs. His defensive workrate is probably his standout quality but he has the ability to develop play from the base of midfield too and add ritmo as they say in Spanish.
He sits in the centre of a 4-4-2, can push up and provide for Athletic Club's attackers or protect the middle as needed and help during the build-up too. He is equally combative battling with opposition midfielders as he is on the ball and his timing in duels is already excellent given his age. Here we see him reading play and getting a tackle on Jude Bellingham earlier in the season when Athletic Clun beat Real Madrid.
There are ten midfielders 21 or younger to have played 700 or more minutes in LaLiga season. Marc Casadó, Jude Bellingham, Pablo Barrios, Unai Gómez Jauregizar are the only ones currently playing for teams in the top four. That immediately puts Jauregizar into a select group of players. The Bermeo native has done it with very little fanfare but is slowly starting to make a name for himself as Athletic Club's star begins to rise this season.
Among all of those players, he sits somewhere in the middle of the pack among a range of statistics such as tackles won, chances created and interceptions. He can sometimes resemble a pure destroyer like Real Valladolid’s Mario Martin but sits quite close to Jude Bellingham in other statistics — 1.26 chances created versus Jauregizar’s 1.22. His 12.57 duels per 90 is third on the list of those players behind Getafe’s Christantus Uche (playing as a forward) and Martin.
That word ritmo comes up time and again when Athletic Club’s directors talk about the kind of players they like to develop. While Jauregizar’s defensive workrate and versatility got him this far, it’s his ability to provide ritmo and make the right decisions that will keep him there. The pass below won’t blow anyone away but it’s what Jauregizar adds. Many of his passes are one touch too on a team that like to play with velocity, this is the difference between an incisive, dangerous attack or a muddled possession that turns into a speculative long ball.
Athletic Club have 60 points after 33 games and are sitting fourth with a five point lead over Villarreal - they’re almost certainly returning to the Champions League.
Athletic Club's fans are reveling in the position Ernesto Valverde has them in. His side are still humming as we approach the end of the season. Of all the good news stories coming out of San Mamés this season, Jauregizar might be the most miraculous of them all.