Gaizka Larrazabal Goikoetxea (born 17 December 1997) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as either a right wing-back or a right winger for Real Zaragoza.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gaizka Larrazabal Goikoetxea | ||
| Date of birth | (1997-12-17) 17 December 1997 (age 24) | ||
| Place of birth | Bilbao, Spain | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Wing-back, winger | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Amorebieta | ||
| Number | 12 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Lauro Ikastola | |||
| 2015–2016 | Danok Bat | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2016–2017 | Zamudio | 29 | (3) |
| 2017–2019 | Bilbao Athletic | 63 | (11) |
| 2019–2020 | Athletic Bilbao | 10 | (0) |
| 2020– | Zaragoza | 18 | (0) |
| 2021– | → Amorebieta (loan) | 17 | (3) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2019– | Basque Country | 1 | (0) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 14 December 2021 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 25 August 2019 | |||
Born in Bilbao, Biscay, Basque Country, Larrazabal started his career with Lauro Ikastola CF, the team affiliated to his school in the town of Loiu. In 2015, he had a successful trial with Bilbao-based youth club Danok Bat CF;[1] it took until the latter part of his season there to establish himself in the team in the 'Juvenil' league, but by its end he had drawn interest from senior clubs.[1]
On 3 June 2016, after finishing his formation, Larrazabal signed for newly-promoted Segunda División B side Zamudio SD.[2] He made his senior debut on 27 August 2016, playing the entire second half in a 1–3 home loss to Bilbao Athletic,[3] and scored his first goal on 10 December by netting the last in a 3–1 home defeat of CD Toledo. He finished the campaign with three goals in 29 appearances, although Zamudio finished bottom of the table and were relegated.
On 5 April 2017, Larrazabal agreed to a two-year contract with Athletic Bilbao, effective as of 1 July;[4] upon arriving, he was assigned to the B-team. He spent two seasons with Bilbao Athletic in the third tier, playing regularly for the team and scoring nine goals in 2018–19.[5]
On 14 May 2019, Larrazabal agreed to a new two-year deal with the Lions, being definitely promoted to the main squad.[6] He made his first team – and La Liga – debut on 24 August, coming on as a substitute for Óscar de Marcos in a 1–1 draw away to Getafe CF.[7]
On 2 October 2020, Larrazabal terminated his contract with the Lions,[8] and agreed to a three-year deal with Segunda División side Real Zaragoza just hours later;[9] Athletic also retained a two-year buyback clause. On 24 August of the following year, he moved to fellow second division side SD Amorebieta on loan for the season.[10]
While on loan at Amorebieta, Larrazabal was converted into a right wing-back, being an undisputed starter for the side.[11]
Larrazabal made his debut for the unofficial Basque Country national team in May 2019, in a 0–0 draw away to Panama for which a small, youthful and inexperienced squad was selected.[12][13]
Larrazabal's father is Aitor Larrazábal, who made over 400 appearances for Athletic Bilbao as a defender between 1990 and 2004 and later became a manager, [4][6] and whose goal celebrations included producing a pacifier from his shorts to represent his baby sons.[5][14] They met as opponents when Gaizka was playing for Zamudio and Aitor in charge of SD Amorebieta,[4] and again when Bilbao Athletic faced Barakaldo CF.
In 2002,[15] Aitor lined up in the same Athletic Bilbao team as Aritz Aduriz, who was also on the field for Gaizka's debut for the club nearly 17 years later.[5][7] The Larrazabals were the first father and son to play for Athletic since goalkeepers Carmelo and Andoni Cedrún,[6][14] and the first to both feature for the Basque Country team since 'Periko' and Xabi Alonso.
SD Amorebieta – current squad | |
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