Álex Berenguer debuts as a lion

Álex Berenguer, from Barañain, Navarre, made his Athletic Club debut on Sunday, after coming off the bench against Alavés at Mendizorroza. The winger replaced Unai López in the 78th minute of the fixture, just one day after being officially presented as an Athletic Club player.

Berenguer became the 625th footballer to pull on the famous red-and-white jersey for the first team, and the eighth to make a debut under current manager Gaizka Garitano.

This season, Garitano has also handed debuts to wingers Iñigo Vicente and Jon Morcillo, and in 2019-20 Kenan Kodro, Oihan Sancet, Gaizka Larrazabal, Jokin Ezkieta and Unai Vencedor made their first appearances as lions.

On Saturday morning, Berenguer signed a deal with Athletic until 2024. Hours later, he was training alongside his new teammates in Lezama. The Athletic boss wasted named the attacker in the squad to face Alavés and Álex came on with a little over ten minutes of the game left.

Álex arrived at Athletic via Italian club Torino FC, but started his footballing career in CA Osasuna’s youth ranks. In 2014-15, Berenguer made his first-team debut for the Pamplona-based outfit in the Segunda División.

The following season, he scored three goals and made 39 appearances as Osasuna won promotion to LaLiga Santander. In 2016-17, he played his first season in the top tier, making a total of 29 official appearances for Osasuna -twice playing in San Mames- and scored once.

After impressing at Osasuna, Berengueur was signed by Torino FC in 2017-18 and went on to play in the Serie A for three full seasons. During his time in Turin, he scored nine times and provided eight assists.