Aduriz: “You can’t imagine how lucky I feel for wearing this jersey”

There’s spark, there’s sparkle in his eyes. Aritz Aduriz’s face says it all, he still has football, passion and Athletic running through his veins. “You can’t imagine how lucky I feel for wearing this jersey and getting out to the field with forty thousand people cheering me up. There is nothing like this feeling. It is very difficult to say no to that, to be able to continue making my dream come true is difficult to reject”, he affirmed.

Aduriz has been shelling a lot of ingredients in his particular “mixer” over the past few months to take “this week” the decision to continue one more season in the first Athletic team. Support, encouragement, doubts, injuries, results, self-criticism … many aspects that have had a vital weight: “I have felt supported in all senses. From the Club, from Rafa, from Gaizka and the coaching staff, from my team mates, the followers … I’m very grateful for the affection I’ve felt from all places, from the most intimate to those who are most exposed.

He knows that this has not been his best year, but he does not want to leave without at least giving himself the opportunity to demonstrate and prove to himself that he still can do it. The injury in January and his recovery were a break for three and a half months. “It’s the longest injury I’ve had. I’ve worked hard to get better, but I can’t hide the fact that I’m not satisfied”, he admitted. A bit of rest and a lot of effort and dedication can be worth this summer to get back yo what he used to be: “Physically I need to get a little more strength, I will be able to give my best at the field and inside the team.

He confessed that there are still many “collective and particular” challenges that still feed his hunger for football and goals. Europe will again be an objective, the same Europe that escaped in Seville between his and his team-mates’ fingers and that was an extra incentive to move forward. In spite of losing the European classification, Adu wanted to make a balance with another point of view: “We had a tremendous illusion, but we have to be positive. We have finished the season very well, with great constancy. What we’ve done by turning the situation around is not easy to achieve in the first division.