There will be no shock room in Bilbao on the bank this summer, after Athletic Club had announced that manager Ernesto Valverde would stay in the club next season. 'El Txingurri', or the ant as he is known in Basque, was out of the contract at the end of the year.
This week Los Leones said goodbye to a third experienced presence in two years, with Captain Oscar de Marcos after Iker Muniain and Raul Garcia out the door. However, they will have the leading hand of Valverde to bring them back to the Champions League for the first time in a decade.
Valverde starts his tenth season with Athletic and is currently the manager who took the lead over most of the club history (451). After an absence of European football for seven years-so that he left the club for the second time Athletic returned to the Europa League and reached the semi-final, eventually fell to Manchester United, a step for a home final in San Mames.
However, the last time that athletics was in the top competition of Europe was also under Valverde in 2014-15, a sign of how impressive he has been relative to athletic. Last season he took another milestone and beat RCD Mallorca to lift a first Copa del Rey in 40 years, after countless finals without a victory. Valverde described the Champions League as' cool but exciting and overlooking another challenge.
The big question in Bilbao is whether they will have Star Vleugel Nico Williams when they enter the Champions League. It will certainly be a tempting offer for Williams to stay, and he seems to have less interest than last year, but that can all change quickly.