• Call: The saddest list of Robert Moreno: Sarabia and Unai Núñez debut and Saúl, Alcácer, Thiago and Suso return

There are those who end up being (let's say) mechanic because their father had a workshop and because his older brother started working on him as soon as he could. For Unai Núñez, the great novelty of Robert Moreno's list for the matches against Romania and the Faroe Islands occurred something similar. The difference is that the job he learned and suckled at home was that of central defense and that with 22 years the inheritance received has already been widely exceeded.

His father Abel , a Galician emigrant born in Taboada (Lugo), was a central classic of Biscay football in the early 90s that stood out for seven seasons in the ranks of Barakaldo. His brother Asier , three years and a month older than him, makes a living as a back row in Third , currently in the Somorrostro after passing through Portugalete, the team of the town in which both were born.

Paths that already pale in the face of the one that the youngest of the saga treasures, fully seated in the staff of Athletic, the European Under-21 champion this summer and at the gates of debuting as an absolute international. Another reason for pride for the parishioners of the Akropolis bar that his father runs with two of his uncles in Repelega, the neighborhood of Portugalete that saw him born.

Saving the distances, Núñez is perhaps the most similar central project to Piqué in Spanish football . He is solvent with the ball, blunt in the air game (measures 1.86 meters) and has a powerful stride. Perhaps his biggest deficit is the excess of confidence with which he sometimes plays, which has given him more than a scare. Sins of youth that experience is responsible for correcting.

Núñez, a Lezama product from fry, appeared in the elite two years ago almost by surprise . Yeray had just relapsed from her testicular cancer and, logically, she was undefined. Given this situation, Cuco Ziganda , then coach of Athletic, was forced to find a solution. Although he had the experienced Etxeita , from his first game he decided to give his confidence to a 20-year-old boy who had already directed at Bilbao Athletic.

The ease with which Núñez served from day one astonished. First with Laporte and then with Iñigo Martínez , the Portuguese formed a pair of power plants rather than solvent that made forget (sportingly, it is understood) the absence of Yeray. In fact, Núñez played almost 3,000 minutes in the League of his debut, more than anyone on the Athletic squad.

The arrival of Eduardo Berizzo, however, slowed his prominence . For the Argentine, Yeray and Iñigo Martínez formed the starting couple of centrals and in their absence, Peru Nolaskoain , training midfielder, was the alternative. Núñez was relegated to the role of the central room. After the dismissal of the Argentine and the arrival of Gaizka Garitano, he rose to third position , although with a limited role: 1,000 minutes in 12 games .

A situation that Nunez, ambitious, has not done well, as he himself acknowledged. In fact, the talks for its renewal (it has its clause of 30 million euros , a bicoca in these times) have been aground for a while. The new season and the physical discomfort of Iñigo Martínez have given him the opportunity to show his credentials again. After offering an outstanding performance against Barcelona and Getafe, Robert Moreno has understood, as Garitano, that Núñez is the best possible alternative to Iñigo Martínez.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • sports
  • Football
  • football
  • Athletic Bilbao
  • Spain National Soccer Team

Football Concussion over the death of Luis Enrique's daughter: "Rest in peace, little Xana"

LaLiga SantanderGetafe and Athletic sign an ugly draw

AthleticAduriz and the last blows of 'Zorro'