At the request of a friend, talk about Etcheberia, a loyal servant who rejected Emperor Saren. As for this player, the starting point is very high, he won the World Youth Championship Golden Boot before the age of 18, and he definitely has a chance to develop into a first-class striker. But not long after his debut, he was transformed into a full-back by the coach, laying the key foreshadowing for his subsequent tragedy:
Joseba Anthony Etcheberia Lisardi was born on September 5, 1977 in the Basque Country. His father is a player, so it is natural for him to play with his son. It was under her father's tutelage that Etcheberia developed a skill that stood out from his peers. Real Sociedad's scouts realised Echeberiá's talent early on and rushed him to his own academy.
Under the Real Sociedad Academy, Etcheberia developed into an excellent striker. Yes, when he was a teenager, he was actually a striker and won the Golden Boot in many competitions. Of course, among the Golden Boots won by Echeberia, the most valuable is naturally the World Youth Championships Golden Boot. In April 1999, Echeberia was not yet 18 years old at the time, and appeared on the stage of the World Youth Championship in Qatar as the main striker of the Spanish national youth team. He scored seven goals in six games, with a super high efficiency of more than one goal per game, and won the World Youth Championship Golden Boot.
No matter what era the World Youth Championship Golden Boot is, it is the sweetheart of the transfer market, and Etcheberia is no exception. Athletic Club Bilbao, also in the Basque Country, forcibly poached Etcheberia for almost $3 million in real money to activate the player buyout clause.
There is no small amount of controversy about this transaction. In the eyes of the royal community, this was Echeberiá's betrayal. However, the player himself explained that he had received permission from the club's management before leaving. However, after his departure, the management threw the black pot to the players......
What the truth is is no longer available. All in all, not long after Echeberia won the World Youth Championship Golden Boot, he was poached by Athletic Bilbao. And it didn't take long for Etcheberia to join his new club and he managed to prove his worth. In the first two rounds of La Liga in the 1995-96 season, Echeberia, who played as a striker, scored and helped the new club win two in a row. It's a pity that Athletic Bilbao has won so many games this season, and the rest of the time is a mess, and it has also experienced a change of coach, which will naturally affect the performance of the players. Over the course of the season, Etcheberia has scored seven goals in La Liga and has played well.
Seeing this, some friends may complain: How can a striker who has 7 goals in a single season in La Liga be considered to be able to play?
On this issue, we have to consider the age and experience of the players. You know, at that time, Echeberia was only 18 years old and still a rookie striker. Seven goals in a single season is already very good. If you don't believe me, let's take a look at the performance of other Spanish strikers when they were just starting out: Morientes scored a total of 5 goals in La Liga in the first two seasons of his debut; Torres played in La Liga for two seasons, scoring a total of seven goals......
After some comparison, it is not difficult to understand that Echeberia's performance as a striker in the 1995-96 season was really good. If Athletic Bilbao continue to relegate Etcheberia as a striker, then the World Youth Golden Boot has a chance to develop into a first-class striker.
But what makes people quite speechless is that after Echeberia joined Athletic Bilbao, he played as a striker for such a season. The following 1996-97 season, he was transformed into a right midfielder by his new manager, Luis Fernandez. Of course, it's okay to be a right winger.
Let a talented player who has played as a striker since he was a child and won the Golden Boot at the World Youth Championships switch to right midfield? It is no exaggeration to say that if those geniuses with bad tempers had encountered this kind of thing, I am afraid that they would have left the team a long time ago. However, Echeberia has a good temper and is loyal enough to Athletic Bilbao to silently accept the manager's transformation.
By the 1997-98 season, Etcheberia had fully adapted to his new position. As a right-sided midfielder, he was not only able to play defenders repeatedly with his skillful passes, but also paid a stat sheet of 11 league goals in a single season.
At this time, Etcheberia is definitely the best of the right midfielders. Throughout La Liga, only Barcelona's Figo could hold back Etcheberia at that time. To define him as the second right midfielder in La Liga is not an exaggeration at all.
With such a good performance and such a young age, it is only natural that other clubs want to poach them. Take the La Liga club at the time, apart from Barcelona, who owned Figo, and Real Sociedad, who had a grudge against Echeberia, who didn't want to recruit him? Even Real Madrid, which had not yet brought in McManaman at the time, was still eager for the Spanish star.
However, his loyalty to Athletic Bilbao led Echeberia to turn down all offers and continue to play in Bilbao. As for the national team, he knocked on the door of the Spanish national team early and became an important member of the team. Whether it was the 1998 World Cup or the 2000 European Championship, Etcheberia got a lot of playing time.
As he gained more experience in the game, Etcheberia became more and more comfortable in the right midfield position. In the 2002/03 season, he put in phenomenal performances, scoring 14 goals over the course of the season, as many as striker Samuel Eto'o......
In the winter window of this season, the Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich once extended an olive branch to Etcheberia because of the serious injury of their right midfielder Salihamidzic. At the end of the season, Barcelona, who had lost Figo for several years, also intended to bring Echeberia to their side.
However, Echieberia is as loyal to Bilbao as ever. Just like when he rejected Real Madrid, the loyal man did not hesitate to refuse the offers of Bayern and Barcelona, and was determined to stay in Bilbao to play.
You must know that at this time, Athletic Bilbao is obviously not competitive enough. Urses has seen a significant decline in form due to his age. Guerrero is plagued by injuries and has long since lost his courage. Echeberia was in the age of the year, and she could only support herself alone. Even so, he chose to share the ups and downs with the owner.
While Etcheberia was struggling to carry Athletic Bilbao, the Spanish national team also underwent a twist. Aragonés took the helm in 2004 and underwent a radical overhaul that replaced the traditional Spanish tactics of flying on both wings with a pass-and-control system.
And Echeberia, when Luis Fernandez was transformed, happened to be transformed into a traditional wide player, with breakthrough crosses as the main means of attack. This directly led to the fact that Echeberia suffered another loss as a coach, and was abandoned by the Spanish team at the age of 27, not to mention continuing to be the main player, he couldn't even enter the squad......
Athletic Bilbao's lack of competitiveness, coupled with the abandonment of the Spanish team. In the days that followed, there was less and less news about Etcheberia. It wasn't until 2008 that the news suddenly broke that the loyal man planned to play for Athletic Bilbao for free for a year, which was really emotional.
Throughout Echeberia's career, it has been clear that he has suffered as a coach. With his talent and strength, if it weren't for Luis Fernandez's forced transformation, he would have had a chance to become a first-class striker, and maybe he wouldn't have to face the tragedy of being abandoned by the Spanish team at the age of 27. Moreover, it is easier for a striker to shine than a wide player......