Mikel San José

Mikel San José Domínguez (Basque: [mikel s̺an xos̺e dominɡes̻]; Spanish: [ˈmikel saŋ xoˈse ðoˈmiŋɡeθ];[upper-alpha 1] born 30 May 1989) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or a central defender.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is San José and the second or maternal family name is Domínguez.

Mikel San José
San José training with Athletic Bilbao in 2014
Personal information
Full name Mikel San José Domínguez
Date of birth (1989-05-30) 30 May 1989
Place of birth Pamplona, Spain
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Playing position(s) Defensive midfielder, centre back
Youth career
Chantrea
2005–2007 Athletic Bilbao
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2010 Liverpool 0 (0)
2009–2010 → Athletic Bilbao (loan) 25 (1)
2010–2020 Athletic Bilbao 304 (27)
National team‡
2007–2008 Spain U19 16 (0)
2009–2011 Spain U21 8 (1)
2012 Spain U23 1 (0)
2014– Spain 7 (0)
2011– Basque Country 7 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 9 February 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 31 December 2016

After starting out at Liverpool's reserves he joined Athletic Bilbao in 2009, initially on loan, and went on to make 397 official appearances for the club until his departure in 2020 while winning the 2015 Supercopa de España.

San José won European Championships with Spain at under-19 and under-21 level. He also represented the country at the 2012 Olympics, and made his senior international debut in 2014, being part of the squad at Euro 2016.

Club career

Early years / Liverpool

Born in Pamplona, Navarre, San José progressed through the youth teams at Athletic Bilbao in the neighbouring Basque Country, playing for the Juvenil B and moving to the A-team in the 2006–07 season, where he made 27 appearances and scored five goals.[1]

Aged just 18, he signed a three-year contract with Liverpool in August 2007, and subsequently played regularly for the reserves in 2007–08[2] and 2008–09.[3]

Athletic return

In August 2009, San José returned to Bilbao on a season-long loan, to gain more first-team experience.[4] He was awarded the number 12 shirt, making his debut on 17 September 2009 in a 3–0 group stage home win against FK Austria Wien in the UEFA Europa League.[5] It was reported in early November 2009 that he was frustrated by the lack of first-team opportunities, and that if this did not improve he would look to shorten the loan agreement and move either back to Liverpool or on loan to another club in January 2010;[6] he finally made his La Liga debut on the 8th, playing the last two minutes of the 2–0 away win over Racing de Santander,[7] and finished the campaign with 30 overall appearances, netting three times.[8][9][10]

On 19 May 2010, San José was signed permanently by Athletic for five years.[11] In his first year he was periodically charged with penalty-taking by manager Joaquín Caparrós, replacing longtime incumbent Andoni Iraola.[12]

On 5 December 2010, in his first Basque derby, against Real Sociedad, San José committed a penalty which resulted in the first goal, and scored in his own net in the beginning of the second half, for the game's final 2–0 at the Anoeta Stadium.[13] The following season, he was an unused substitute in the Copa del Rey and the Europa League finals, both lost.

San José finished the 2012–13 campaign with six goals all competitions comprised, netting five goals in the league as the Lions finished 12th, and was often utilized as a defensive midfielder by coach Marcelo Bielsa.[14] His other successful strike was his first in a European competition, in a 3–3 draw at HJK Helsinki for the Europa League play-off round second leg.[15]

San José scored the first-ever goal for Athletic Bilbao at the new San Mamés Stadium (second overall) on 16 September 2013, netting from close range in a 3–2 defeat of RC Celta de Vigo.[16][17] He began to be overshadowed by fellow youth graduate Aymeric Laporte, however.[18][19]

On 25 November 2014, San José scored his first goal in the UEFA Champions League, the only one in a group match away to FC Shakhtar Donetsk – nonetheless, the opponents advanced at Athletic's expense.[20] He also netted the opening goal of a 4–0 win against FC Barcelona in the first leg of the 2015 Supercopa de España, striking from 50 metres after a clearance from opposing goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen.[21]

In September 2019, San José reached the milestone of ten years with the same club.[22] On 24 November, he celebrated his 300th appearance in the Spanish top division in a 2–1 away victory against CA Osasuna, breaking a 31–game undefeated streak of the hosts at their El Sadar Stadium.[23]

In July 2020, Athletic confirmed that San José's contract would not be extended beyond that summer, although the departure was delayed beyond its usual June expiry after the season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. His contribution (along with long-serving colleague Beñat Etxebarria, also leaving in similar circumstances)[24][25] was acknowledged at the last home fixture on 16 July 2020 in an empty San Mamés[26]– he was in the matchday squad but did not leave the bench,[27] with his last appearance four months earlier in the Spanish Cup semi-finals;[28][29] His team won that tie, but the circumstances of the delay and the end of his spell at the club meant he would have no opportunity to take part in the decisive match.

International career

San José was part of the Spanish team who captured the 2007 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. Having made 16 appearances in that category, he progressed to the under-21s in early 2009.[30]

On 29 August 2014, San José was named by full side manager Vicente del Bosque in a 23-man squad for matches against France and Macedonia in September.[31] He made his debut on 4 September, featuring the full 90 minutes in a 0–1 friendly loss to the former,[32] and was subsequently selected for the UEFA Euro 2016 tournament alongside Athletic teammate Aritz Aduriz.[33]

San José also featured for the unofficial Basque Country regional side.[34]

Career statistics

Club
As of 20 July 2020[1][35][36]
Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Athletic Bilbao 2009–10 2510052—303
2010–11 31230——342
2011–12 2426180—383
2012–13 3452041—406
2013–14 25550——305
2014–15 2856192—438
2015–16 342601011[lower-alpha 1]1514
2016–17 354306000444
2017–18 26110110—381
2018–19 3304100—371
2019–20 9 0 3 0 — — 12 0
Total 304273945361139737
  1. Appearance(s) in Supercopa de España

International
As of 23 May 2018[37]
Spain
YearAppsGoals
201410
201530
201630
Total70

Honours

Club

Athletic Bilbao

International

Spain U21

Spain U19

Notes
  1. In isolation, San and Domínguez are pronounced [san] and [doˈmiŋɡeθ] respectively.
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gollark: FIBONACCI INDENTATION!
gollark: It's only about 100 lines of code excluding the data bits.
gollark: Nah. The stupid amount of JS libraries and flexibility made developing this really nice.
gollark: And I can't now be bothered to port it away.

References
  1. Mikel San José at Athletic Bilbao
  2. "Season 2007–08". Liverweb. Archived from the original on 13 November 2007. Retrieved 29 October 2009.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  3. "Season 2008–09". Liverweb. Archived from the original on 4 June 2009. Retrieved 29 October 2009.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  4. "Mikel San José, cedido al Athletic Club" [Mikel San José, loaned to Athletic Club] (in Spanish). Athletic Bilbao. 15 August 2009. Archived from the original on 17 August 2009. Retrieved 4 November 2009.
  5. "Irrepressible Athletic show their class". UEFA. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 4 November 2009.
  6. "San Jose frustrated in Spain". Sky Sports. 3 November 2009. Retrieved 4 November 2009.
  7. "El Athletic también sabe ganar sin Llorente" [Athletic also know how to win without Llorente]. El Correo (in Spanish). 8 November 2009. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  8. "El Athletic se aisla de los incidentes, golea al Austria Viena y pasa en la Europa League" [Athletic distance themselves from incidents, rout Austria Wien and go through in Europa League]. 20 minutos (in Spanish). 3 December 2009. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  9. "La derrota ante el Athletic deja a Marcelino más dentro que fuera del Zaragoza (1–2)" [Defeat against Athletic leaves Marcelino more out than in at Zaragoza (1–2)]. 20 minutos (in Spanish). 13 December 2009. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  10. "San José obra el milagro" [San José works miracle] (in Spanish). RTVE. 18 February 2010. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  11. "San José drafted". Athletic Bilbao. 19 May 2010. Archived from the original on 31 May 2010. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
  12. Beltrán, Javi (27 September 2013). "El Athletic falla el 41% de los penaltis desde la retirada de Larrazabal en 2004" [Athletic miss 41% of penalties since retirement of Larrazabal in 2004] (in Spanish). El Desmarque. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  13. "Mikel San Jose horror Basque Derby debut gifts hosts easy victory". Goal. 5 December 2010. Retrieved 17 December 2010.
  14. Beato, Rafael (29 January 2013). "San José: "No es normal que un defensa haga tantos goles"" [San José: "It's not normal for a defender to score this many goals"]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  15. "Group stage guaranteed". Athletic Bilbao. 30 August 2012. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  16. "Athletic open stadium with win". ESPN FC. 16 September 2013. Archived from the original on 27 November 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  17. ""Seremos recordados", dice Mikel San José, autor del primer gol en el nuevo San Mamés" ["We shall be remembered", says Mikel San José, author of first goal in the new San Mamés] (in Spanish). Canal Athletic. 17 September 2013. Retrieved 30 October 2013.
  18. Mallo, Juanma (23 December 2013). "El Athletic sigue dulce" [Athletic still sweet]. El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  19. Orosa, Ramón (28 March 2016). "La baja de Laporte, la más difícil de suplir para Valverde" [Laporte's absence, the most difficult to replace for Valverde]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  20. "San José shows way for Athletic at Shakhtar". UEFA. 25 November 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  21. "Athletic Bilbao 4–0 Barcelona: Aduriz hits hat-trick in Supercopa shocker". Goal. 14 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  22. Zubieta, Jon (17 September 2019). "La década de Mikel" [The Mikel decade]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  23. "Osasuna 1–2 Athletic Club: Lions break El Sadar". Inside Athletic. 24 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  24. "San José and Beñat will not continue at Athletic Club". Athletic Bilbao. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  25. "Rain of criticism of San José and Beñat for announcing only in Basque their departure from Athletic". Explica. 1 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  26. "Inside: The tribute to Beñat and San José". Athletic Bilbao. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  27. Ortiz de Lazcano, Javier (16 July 2020). "El último partido para San José y Beñat en San Mamés" [The last match for San José and Beñat at San Mamés]. El Correo (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  28. Zaballa, Carlos (3 March 2020). "¿La hora de San José en el Athletic?" [San José's time at Athletic?]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  29. "Athletic Bilbao reach Copa del Rey final despite loss to Granada". ESPN. 5 March 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  30. "Appearances for Mikel San Jose". Liverweb. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2009.CS1 maint: unfit url (link)
  31. "These are the players called up for the matches against France and Macedonia". Royal Spanish Football Federation. 29 August 2014. Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  32. "France 1–0 Spain". BBC Sport. 4 September 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  33. "Euro 2016: Diego Costa, Juan Mata & Fernando Torres not in Spain squad". BBC Sport. 17 May 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  34. "Catalunya 0–1 Euskal Selekzioa" [Catalonia 0–1 Basque XI] (in Spanish). Basque Football Federation. 26 December 2015. Retrieved 29 December 2016.
  35. "San José". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  36. Mikel San José at ESPN FC
  37. "Mikel San José". European Football. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
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