Athletic Club
Lekue Bids Farewell to Football and San Mamés
The full-back will say goodbye to San Mamés in the second-to-last league match against Celta.
Lekue and Valverde lead the group during a training session.
Iñigo Lekue has decided to end his professional career. The 33-year-old Athletic Club defender has chosen to step aside, leaving both the club and the sport behind. After 11 seasons in the first team, with 281 appearances and three titles (1 Copa del Rey and 2 Supercopa de España), his time at San Mamés comes to a close.
The club did not offer him a renewal, and Lekue, who had said in March, “I’m not looking at other options. I want to stay at Athletic,” now faces an emotional farewell. As one of the team’s captains, he will be honored in the final home match against Celta. The moment is bittersweet, as he has watched friends like De Marcos and Balenziaga go through similar goodbyes in recent years. After the match against Valencia, with an empty San Mamés, he playfully stepped onto the pitch alongside his son, foreshadowing the end.
Ernesto Valverde, Athletic’s head coach, has always valued Lekue. “He is an utterly reliable player you can trust 100% because you know what he will give and that he will give everything,” Valverde has said on multiple occasions. Lekue will depart at the same time as Valverde, who gave him his first-team debut.
Lekue was one of three players ending their contracts in June and the only one not in the club’s plans for next season. Meanwhile, Athletic is looking to extend Yuri’s contract—the 36-year-old remains a key figure on the left flank—and has already triggered an automatic renewal clause for Rego, with negotiations underway for a longer extension.
Farewell to a reliable servant of the club, who leaves with his head held high.