The missing piece for Espanyol is a deceptive Basque

BarcelonaAt 1.89 centimeters tall, 83 kilos, and with a deep voice, despite his youth—he's just turned 24—Urko González de Zárate has a body type that can easily be associated with Basque rural sports. "Are you really Basque? I'll see," joked Tommy N'Kono when he welcomed him to Espanyol's first team this January. He arrived on loan from Real Sociedad, where he had only played 741 minutes in 15 matches. In just three months at Espanyol, he's already played 598 minutes in eight matches, proving his worth.

In this burly player, Espanyol has found the missing piece in Manolo González's midfield. He has adapted in record time to a team where his emergence has been a true turning point. The data proves it: with Urko, Espanyol has accumulated 54.1% of the points at stake; without him, the percentage drops to 30.1%. With the Vitorian, the Blue and Whites scored in 87.5% of their matches, more than double the 42.8% without him. Consequently, their losing percentage has fallen from 57.1% to 12.5%.

With Urko, Espanyol attacks and defends better: they score 1.37 goals per match (0.95 without him) and concede 0.75 goals per game (1.61). His impact on the game is also evident in individual analysis. He's already the second-best player in two key defensive aspects: blocked shots on goal (0.9 per game) and tackles won (2.9). He's also seventh in rebounds (2). But his contribution isn't limited to the defensive aspect.

Xabi Alonso's apprentice and Zubimendi's competitor

In fact, he is a key player in the construction of the game: he is second in terms of passes in space (0.1), the eighth with the best statistics for key passes (0.6 per game) and successful long passes (1.3), and the ninth in terms of completed dribbles (0.4) and completed passes (20.9). These records show that he not only uses his physique to do the dirty work, but mainly stands out for his good foot, his vision of the game and the ability to interpret where he should position himself and when he can anticipate.

In these two facets he has had good role models. To start with, a coach like Xabi Alonso, who managed him with the Real Sociedad reserve team. "He knows a lot, about football and tactics. As we had a similar position, he used to be very on top of me, I felt very comfortable with him," he said in an interview on Relief, where he also acknowledged that he had grown a lot alongside Zubimendi: "I've learned everything from him, but especially from his positioning in midfield. I enjoy being a pivot, I like to touch the ball and it doesn't burn me out."

"He brings a foot in the midfield, vision, technical quality, and balance due to his defensive approach," praised Manolo González a few weeks ago, the main beneficiary of the winter transfer window's bid for Fran Garagarza. The Espanyol sporting director had already asked for him in the summer and sought him out again in January, seeing that he had only appeared in four matches this season for Real Sociedad. "Manolo, like Imanol Alguacil, is a very passionate coach. Both tell you to give it your all in duels, to have personality. At Espanyol, you have to defend well, and when we have the ball, you have to counterattack well," explained Urko. On the pitch, he doesn't just chop logs and lift stones, but has become the helm of Espanyol, which is celebrating having an atypical Basque player in the squad, albeit for a few months.