Amorebieta says leaving Bilbao hard, but Premier League came calling

Fernando Amorebieta joined Fulham on a free transfer this summer. Before making the move to London, he’d spent his entire career with Athletic Bilbao.

When asked about leaving La Liga to come to the Premier League, the 28-year-old said it was tough and a bit emotional to leave his first and only team.

“I appreciated Athletic’s offer, which was very good, but in the end I thought I would be fooling myself. I was very excited about the Premier League and was eager to go there, even though my dream was to triumph with Athletic.”

He even said the money he was offered in London wasn’t the deciding factor. “Money did not make the difference. I’d still have accepted less to sample a new league.”

The fact he speaks of less money in the fictional sense suggests he’s getting more with Fulham than what Athletic offered him.

The Venezuelan has a few regrets about how he parted ways with his old club, but he has moved on to greener pastures, and more playing time.

“It wasn’t easy to make this decision. It’s true that I would have liked to say goodbye on the pitch after helping the team, but the coach decided that others were in a better condition to play rather than myself and that must be respected. On one hand I’m grateful that we got to two finals [under Marcelo Bielsa] and that is something hard to forget. But the end of last season was very difficult to take because I was deprived of game time.”

It will be extremely exciting to watch the Venezuelan in action, most likely alongside Brede Hangeland. With so much experience and yet still young enough to be in his prime, it’s a perfect combination to add to the Fulham squad.