Sabin Merino

Sabin
Personal information
Full name Sabin Merino Zuloaga
Date of birth (1992-01-04) 4 January 1992
Place of birth Urduliz, Spain
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing position Forward
Club information
Current team
Athletic Bilbao
Number 19
Youth career
2001–2002 Danok Bat
2002–2005 Athletic Bilbao
2005–2008 Danok Bat
2008–2009 Javanon
2009–2011 Danok Bat
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2013 Basconia 70 (27)
2012–2015 Bilbao Athletic 81 (21)
2015– Athletic Bilbao 35 (6)
National team
2016– Basque Country 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21 May 2017.
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 31 December 2016

Sabin Merino Zuloaga (born 4 January 1992), known simply as Sabin, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Athletic Bilbao as a forward.

Club career

Born in Urduliz, Biscay, Basque Country, Sabin graduated from Danok Bat CF's youth setup, after spells at Athletic Bilbao's Lezama and American team Javanon FC.[1] In the 2011 summer he returned to the Lions, and made his debut as a senior with the farm team in Tercera División.[2]

On 21 June 2013, Sabin was promoted to the reserves in Segunda División B.[3] On 29 June 2015, after scoring a career-best 18 goals during the season as the B-side returned to Segunda División after a 19-year absence,[4] he was promoted to the main squad in La Liga.[5]

Sabin made his official debut with the first team on 6 August 2015, coming on as a second-half substitute for Javier Eraso in a 0–0 away draw against Inter Baku PIK for the campaign's UEFA Europa League.[6] After the departure of Guillermo, he was finally granted a place in the main squad, being assigned #25.[7]

Sabin started in the 4–0 home routing of FC Barcelona for the Supercopa de España on 14 August 2015 as a left winger, providing the assist for Aritz Aduriz's second goal.[8] He scored his first professional goal on 20 August, netting the first in a 2–3 Europa League playoff round loss at MŠK Žilina.[9]

Sabin scored his first goal in the Spanish top flight on 23 September 2015, in a 1–2 home defeat against Real Madrid.[10]

International career

Sabin was never capped by Spain at any level. He did feature for the unofficial Basque Country regional team.[11]

Honours

Athletic Bilbao

References

  1. "El cachorro Sabin Merino es seguido por varios clubes ingleses" [Youngster Sabin Merino is tracked by several English clubs] (in Spanish). El Desmarque. 4 December 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  2. "La apuesta del Athletic es Sabin Merino" [Athletic's bet is Sabin Merino] (in Spanish). Deia. 16 June 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  3. "Bilbao Athletic pre-season". Athletic Bilbao. 21 June 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  4. "Sabin Merino: El capitán de récord que pudo ser también héroe" [Sabin Merino: the record captain who could also be the hero]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 29 June 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  5. "Dismissals in Bilbao Athletic". Athletic Bilbao. 29 June 2015. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  6. "Eraso arranca con el pie derecho en Bilbao" [Eraso starts off on the right foot in Bilbao]. Diario AS (in Spanish). 30 July 2015. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  7. "Williams hereda el '15' de Iraola y Bóveda el '2' de Toquero" [Williams inherits the '15' from Iraola and Bóveda the '2' from Toquero]. Marca (in Spanish). 13 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  8. "Aduriz echa al Barça a los leones" [Aduriz throws Barça to the lions]. Marca (in Spanish). 14 August 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  9. "El Athletic se deja sorprender por el Zilina" [Athletic let themselves be surprised by Zilina]. Marca (in Spanish). 20 August 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  10. "Ath Bilbao 1–2 Real Madrid". BBC Sport. 23 September 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
  11. "Catalunya 0–1 Euskal Selekzioa" [Catalonia 0–1 Basque XI] (in Spanish). Basque Football Federation. 26 December 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.