Athletic Club star admits he would reject a move to Barcelona

A member of the midfield ranks at Athletic Club has this week confirmed that he would follow in the steps of teammate Nico Williams, in rejecting the chance to join La Liga rivals Barcelona.

The player in question? Mikel Jauregizar.

Youngster Jauregizar, for his part, is fresh off something of a breakout season on the books of the aforementioned Athletic Club in 2024/25.

Establishing himself as something of a mainstay in the engine room setup of manager Ernesto Valverde, the 21-year-old went on to rack up 34 La Liga appearances.

Jauregizar followed up with a starting berth in Athletic’s season opener last weekend, too, seeing out the full 90 minutes in a 3-2 victory over Sevilla.

As alluded to above, though, during an appearance in front of the media on Thursday, it was the possibility of a move away from Bilbao which was put to the Spaniard himself.

Specifically, Jauregizar was asked if he would respond the same way as teammate Nico Williams, in the face of an offer from Hansi Flick’s Barcelona.

And the midfield talent, as cited by Diario Sport, was blunt in his response:

“I would say no.”

Conor Laird – GSFN