Valverde: "Let's see if we can do even better"

With the Lions now fully immersed in pre-season training, the coach is looking forward to a campaign that promises to be as demanding as it is exciting.

"We're back in the starting position, with the same need to win," the boss said at his press conference.

"It's complicated and we have to prepare well. We want to continue what we did last year, with good results in LaLiga, which continues to be our main objective, and being competitive in Europe, which will be even more demanding this year with the Champions League. We're excited, of course."

In order to be in the best possible condition for the start of the season, Athletic have scheduled a demanding series of friendly matches against big-name opponents.

Valverde said: "These are important teams, at a high level, and they want to play against us. It will be good for us to measure ourselves and see where we are at."

In line with Athletic's philosophy, the Lions prepare for the upcoming campaing with hardly any changes to the playing squad.

"One of the good things we have here is great stability, which is unusual in other teams, where there are a lot of changes in pre-season," he added.

"We know each other well and that allows us to focus on new aspects without having to go back to others that have already been worked on. Let's see if we can be even better with the squad we have."

On the objectives for the season, Valverde insisted on the need to continue growing: "Let's see if we can repeat our European qualification. For that we have to work and push hard. We will try to reinforce our strengths and improve other aspects."

Ernesto also had words of support for Yeray: "We have to help him and give him all our support, but we can't comment on anything as the matter is ongoing; I can only say that we hope for the best for him and for us."