{"id":12636,"date":"2026-08-01T08:06:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T08:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/?p=12636"},"modified":"2026-08-01T08:06:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T08:06:28","slug":"mikel-vesga-set-for-almeria-switch-as-decade-long-athletic-bilbao-tenure-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/08\/01\/mikel-vesga-set-for-almeria-switch-as-decade-long-athletic-bilbao-tenure-ends\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikel Vesga Set for Almer\u00eda Switch as Decade-Long Athletic Bilbao Tenure Ends"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Experienced midfielder Mikel Vesga is on the verge of completing a move to Almer\u00eda, bringing his ten-season stay at Athletic Bilbao to a definitive close.<\/p>\n<p>The 33-year-old left-footed midfielder was absent from group training at Athletic&#8217;s Lezama complex on Thursday, having previously trained individually away from the squad. According to reporting by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mundodeportivo.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/07\/19\/athletic-bilbao-cruise-to-11-0-friendly-win-as-midfield-duo-rested\/\" class=\"auto-internal-link\" title=\"Athletic Bilbao Cruise to 11-0 Friendly Win as Midfield Duo Rested\">Mundo Deportivo<\/a><\/a> journalist I\u00f1aki Ugalde, the transfer now only requires an official announcement to be finalized.<\/p>\n<p>Vesga&#8217;s departure follows a decision by manager <a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/07\/19\/athletic-bilbao-cruise-to-11-0-friendly-win-as-midfield-duo-rested\/\" class=\"auto-internal-link\" title=\"Athletic Bilbao Cruise to 11-0 Friendly Win as Midfield Duo Rested\">Edin Terzic<\/a> to exclude the veteran from his core plans for the upcoming season. While Mallorca had originally emerged as the frontrunner for his signature during early pre-season talks, Almer\u00eda systematically gained ground to overtake their rivals and secure the midfielder.<\/p>\n<p>Over a decade with Los Rojiblancos, Vesga registered 275 official appearances, establishing himself as a reliable option in central midfield. Sustaining a ten-year career at Athletic carries distinct significance given the club&#8217;s historic focus on roster continuity and regional talent retention.<\/p>\n<p>The transition brings immediate benefits to both sides. Almer\u00eda acquires a battle-tested top-flight engine room presence, while Athletic streamlines their squad structure as Terzic continues reshaping the team&#8217;s roster strategy.<\/p>\n<div class=\"related-news-box\">\n<h3 class=\"related-news-title\">Read also:<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"related_news_list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/08\/01\/cristian-romero-transfer-stalls-as-inter-wage-dispute-opens-door-for-la-liga-clubs\/\">Cristian Romero Transfer Stalls as Inter Wage Dispute Opens Door for La Liga Clubs<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/08\/01\/hansi-flick-reshapes-barcelona-attack-as-marcus-rashford-departs-and-youngster-hamza-abdelkarim-shines\/\">Hansi Flick Reshapes Barcelona Attack as Marcus Rashford Departs and Youngster Hamza Abdelkarim Shines<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/2026\/07\/31\/chelsea-target-scottish-striker-robbie-ure-after-breakout-season-in-sweden\/\">Chelsea Target Scottish Striker Robbie Ure After Breakout Season in Sweden<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Experienced midfielder Mikel Vesga is on the verge of completing a move to Almer\u00eda, bringing his ten-season stay at Athletic Bilbao to a definitive close. The 33-year-old left-footed midfielder was absent from group training at Athletic&#8217;s Lezama complex on Thursday, having previously trained individually away from the squad. According to reporting by Mundo Deportivo journalist &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10632,15256,6517,15258,15259,15257,15255,4559],"class_list":["post-12636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-almeria","tag-athletic-bilbao","tag-edin-terzic","tag-lezama","tag-los-rojiblancos","tag-mallorca","tag-mikel-vesga","tag-mundo-deportivo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12636"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12640,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12636\/revisions\/12640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nile1.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}