Ander Herrera returns to Athletic eight years later

Eight years after his departure from Athletic and after passing through two of the great European express, Manchester United and PSG, Ander Herrera (Bilbao, 33 years old), rejoins the club from which he left after paying his termination clause of 36 million euros in a bizarre operation that had two parts since in September 2013, a year before his dismissal, United's lawyers went to the League headquarters to deposit the money, although in the end they did not.

The player continued at Athletic, under the orders of Ernesto Valverde, -who will once again be his coach-, in the last campaign in which the rojiblanco team, which broke its record for points (70) and qualified for the Champions League.

In June 2014, United finally paid the clause and took over his services.

Herrera had dazzled the English club's coaches, especially Alex Ferguson, after the exhibition he gave in the two qualifying matches played by the two teams in the Europa League and in which Athletic went through 5- 3.

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By The Crown Creators 🤝 #AthleticClub 🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/xVNY0sjhMU

– Athletic Club (@AthleticClub) August 27, 2022

Herrera played five seasons in Manchester.

He played 189 games and scored 20 goals.

He won four titles with the

and, with his freedom letter in hand at the end of his contract, he accepted the offer from PSG, where he has spent three seasons, with 95 games and six goals, in addition to seven titles.

He also dished out 33 assists between the two teams.

With the beginning of the preseason, his situation became very delicate.

He had two years left on his contract, but the arrival of Christophe Galtier on the bench of the Parisian club was a turnaround in his role.

The French coach removed from the team seven players, with whom he did not count, and among them was Herrera.

Along with the rest, Kurzawa, Draxler, Rafinha, Kehrer, Gueye and Icardi, they trained apart from the group –something that the French league only allows until September 2–, and the French press had called them “the undesirables”.

More information

Ander Herrera: “No one prepares us for success”

Then the first contacts arose between the directors of the new president, Jon Uriarte, and the footballer's representatives, who welcomed the possibility of returning to Bilbao, although he wanted to do so without losing money and as a free player.

PSG initially intended to request a transfer, but the pressing need to get rid of the players it does not have has meant that in the end, the player and the club reach an agreement, which is substantiated in a transfer with purchase option at the end of the season.

Athletic has worked with absolute discretion and had agreed with Herrera, several days ago, the conditions of his contract, pending the resolution of the negotiations with PSG, which were finally closed on Saturday, when from the investment group that owns the Parisian team, based in Qatar, approved the operation.

Herrera will give up part of the remaining two years of his contract with Paris Saint Germain, who also owed him the four million euro signing bonus after his departure from United.

This is good news for Ernesto Valverde, who, questioned a week ago about his possible signing, blurted out that "he's a good player and I know him well".

The Athletic coach, as the London

assured at the time , already wanted to sign him when he arrived at FC Barcelona.

The player has always praised the one who will be his coach again: “I know him well after having him as coach and I can assure you that he has character.

In the end, we see him many times very cautious and that it seems that he has no character, but he really has it ”.

Athletic plays on Monday in Cádiz, and Ander Herrera will be presented on Sunday at noon in San Mamés.

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