“Our goal at Lezama is to improve every day”

As is now customary, Athletic Club has made a public end-of-season assessment of its youth development work.

Mikel González, director of football, and Sergio Navarro, Lezama academy director, who is leaving the club after a very satisfactory three seasons of work, spoke to the press about the progress made this year.

"It has also been a great year in Lezama," said Mikel González, who added that “there is still a long way to go".

"We have great projects for our male and female footballers and we have provided them with resources. These are medium to long term projects. Our goal at Lezama is to improve every day."

Althought the ultimate aim is the development of players, something in which the club has progressed both in terms of quality and quantity, the season has been outstanding when it comes to on-pitch results, with Basconia achieving promotion and Athletic Under-21s - made up of players from Bilbao Athletic and Basconia - reaching the Premier League International Cup semi-finals.

Mikel González stressed that Athletic already have "great talent at Lezama, but when we see opportunities to add to that, our task is to try to do so, as I imagine other club do too", adding that the club will "always try to do it properly, with the utmost respect for everyone".

He continued: "More than the numbers of how many players you bring through, we try to compare ourselves with the other clubs in the work we do.

"We organise different trips, we get visits. Not to see if we're better, but to see what we can learn, how we can improve or where we're lacking."

The director of football also insisted that club needs to "keep progressing at Lezama".

"For me this is  the best club in the world, with a huge, well-organised set-up and we have to keep giving it fuel. We're doing a great job," he said.

"We can't stop, we can't be satisfied, we have to be ambitious, maintain all the good things we have done, add the nuances that football demands, and try to keep our staff happy so that they come and push the players to develop."

For his part, Sergio Navarro leaves with the feeling of a job well done.

He said: "It's a shame I'm leaving, it's been very difficult because I've discovered my home, a great club. 

"I have realised that Lezama is much more important than I thought when I arrived. I'm very happy for everything we've said. Lezama is healthy, there's an idea, a plan and a lot of people working to make it happen.

"I'm leaving very calm and happy. It's been an incredible experience, I'm very grateful to all my colleagues and I've learnt a lot. I'm a better coach and director than I was three years ago."