Perhaps it is better this way, with 10 months in advance, enough time for the Athletic fans to gradually assume what, at times, they thought would never come, one afternoon in San Mamés without Aritz Aduriz. For many years he had been mocking the passage of time and the laws of nature to which he seemed immune, that the Guipuzcoan, now that he begins to feel the ravages of age, has preferred to put an expiration date before he begins to doubt whether I could take more time active or not.

He will retire, at 39, at the end of the season that is about to begin, "in peace with myself" and with the pleasure of being able to say goodbye at Athletic, the club I would never have wanted to leave. He was forced to do it twice and now it is he, for the first time, who sets his own goodbye to San Mamés. He has earned it.

El Zorro already had many doubts about the convenience of continuing to be active this season. He did not confirm it, in fact, until the competition ended. It had been a very difficult year for him, crushed since the summer by injuries that only allowed him to play 23 games, the lowest record in his two decades as a professional. In them, he limited his production to six goals, two in the league - both penalties - and four to the Huesca in the Cup, in a tie that Athletic won 8-0.

The 2015 Super Cup

Very unsatisfactory records for those who had not dropped from 18 points since he returned to Athletic, in 2012, with a maximum peak of 37 in the 2015/16 season that earned him Vicente del Bosque to appoint him for the European Championship in France.

He will say goodbye in June as the last great legend of Athletic, the biggest since Joseba Etxeberria and Julen Guerrero. And with a title, the 2015 Spanish Super Cup, its magical year, something that its predecessors cannot boast. He will do it with more than 400 games with the red-and-white elastic - he is 10 of that figure - and, perhaps, as the fifth historical top scorer, for which he needs eight goals. Among all his teams he has scored a total of 286 goals.

"In peace with myself"

«I say it now to avoid distractions and so that we can all focus on the team and achieve the objectives. Being able to choose an end, and choose where, is an incredible privilege. I feel at peace with myself, because I know that I have done my best until the last day and that is very valuable for me, ”explained Aduriz yesterday in Lezama, a few hours after scoring his last goal for the moment, in a friendly against Mirandés.

Displaced to the bench by the strength of Williams, Aduriz will face his last season trying to contribute from a more secondary role in the field and being an undisputed leader in the locker room, where he is revered by some colleagues who will also have to assume a near future without the zarpazos of the eternal '20' of Athletic.

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