Iñigo Vicente: the cub becomes a lion

Iñigo Vicente, born in Derio on January 1, 1998, made his Athletic Club debut on Thursday night, playing against Cádiz at San Mamés.

The creative winger replaced striker Iñaki Williams in the 61st minute of the match. After getting minutes in some pre-season clashes (UD Logroñés, Alavés, Real Oviedo and the double friendly against Sevilla), on Thursday his opportunity to make a full first-team debut in The Cathedral arrived.

Vicente became the 624th debutant in Athletic Club’s history and the seventh debutant under Gaizka Garitano. Iñigo follows in the footsteps of Jon Morcillo, Kenan Kodro, Oihan Sancet, Gaizka Larrazabal, Jokin Ezkieta and Unai Vencedor, all of whom also made their first-team debuts under the current head coach.

The Derio native has played for Athletic at nearly every single age group from Under-11s up, he also played for feeder team Danok Bat. Constantly progressing, he exploded whilst with the Under-18’s. In the 2014-15 season, he scored 19 times in the domestic youth league, as well as netting another three in the UEFA Youth League.

In the following campaign, he hit the back of the net 30 times in 26 matches for the Under-18s, figures which saw him move up to the third team, CD Basconia. With the ‘C’ team, he bagged 14 goals in 31 games and made his Bilbao Athletic debut.

In 2017-18 and 2018-19, Iñigo scored 20 goals in 66 appearances for the reserves, enough to see him play two friendlies with the first team, facing SD Amorebieta and Barakaldo CF.

Last season, after participating in five friendlies under Gaizka Garitano, Vicente went out on loan to CD Mirandés in search of more minutes. He has returned this season determined to break into the first team.