_(cropped).jpg) Agirretxe in 2020 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Imanol Agirretxe Arruti | ||
| Date of birth | (1987-02-24)24 February 1987 (age 38) | ||
| Place of birth | Usurbil, Spain | ||
| Height | 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1996–2001 | Antiguoko[1] | ||
| 2001–2003 | Athletic Bilbao | ||
| 2003–2004 | Real Sociedad | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2004–2008 | Real Sociedad B | 108 | (33) |
| 2005–2018 | Real Sociedad | 246 | (71) |
| 2007 | →Castellón (loan) | 8 | (1) |
| Total | 362 | (105) | |
| International career | |||
| 2003 | Spain U16 | 3 | (4) |
| 2004–2005 | Spain U17 | 7 | (0) |
| 2010–2015 | Basque Country | 5 | (3) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Imanol Agirretxe Arruti (born 24 February 1987) is a Spanish retired professionalfootballer who played as astriker.
Aside from a short loan spell atCastellón, his entire professional career was spent atReal Sociedad. At the latter club, he amassed competitive totals of 272 matches and 75 goals, while inLa Liga alone he scored 56 times from 180 appearances.[2]
Born inUsurbil,Gipuzkoa, Agirretxe was a product ofReal Sociedad's youth system. He first appeared with the first team in2004–05, making threesubstitute appearances – in his second, a 1–3 home loss againstMálaga CF on 15 May 2005, he managed to score after just 16 minutes on the pitch;[3] in the following three seasons, however, he only totalled nine league matches, and also served a six-month loan spell atCD Castellón in theSegunda División.[4]
In2008–09's second tier, Agirretxe appeared regularly for the main squad, mainly due to the serious injury toIñigo Díaz de Cerio.[5] He netted nine goals in 28 games, but theBasques again failed to return toLa Liga.[6]
Again mainly a backup after the signing on loan of UruguayanCarlos Bueno, Agirretxe scored six timesthe following campaign in 36 matches,[6] as Real finally promoted as champions.[7] In2011–12, followingRaúl Tamudo's departure and the continuous physical problems that botheredJoseba Llorente, he was finally made first-choice, and netted three goals in his first two league games: two againstSporting de Gijón in a 2–1 away win[8] and one againstFC Barcelona, helping the hosts come from behind 0–2 for an eventual 2–2 draw;[9] he finished with ten successful strikes, only trailingCarlos Vela in the squad.[10]
On 19 January 2013, Agirretxe came from the bench for the last six minutes of a home fixture against Barcelona, and scored in thelast minute to seal a 3–2 comeback victory (Real Sociedad trailed 0–2 in the 40th minute) and end theCatalans'unbeaten domestic run.[11] Atthe season's end he again finished second in team scoring (13), again only behind Vela.[12][13][14]
At the start of the2015–16 campaign, Agirretxe was in the best goalscoring form of his career, scoring 12 times in the first 13 league matches.[15][16] He suffered an injury to his left ankle during a loss toReal Madrid at theSantiago Bernabéu Stadium on 30 December 2015,[17] and returned sooner than expected the following February, netting in a 1–1 home draw against Málaga after only seven minutes on the pitch.[18][19] Shortly after, however, he relapsed from his ailment, going on to be sidelined for more than one year;[20][21][22] in June 2016, while absent from playing, he renewed his contract until summer 2020.[23]
After impressing in the2017–18 pre-season,[24] Agirretxe made a return to competitive action on 19 August 2017 following a 20-month hiatus, replacing captainXabi Prieto as their team came from behind to defeat hostsRC Celta de Vigo 3–2 in the opening round of league fixtures.[25] He made 13 appearances in all competitions, but only played more than 45 minutes in two of them.[26]
On 29 August 2018, Agirretxe announced his retirement from playing professionally at the age of 31, having never fully recovered from his 2015 injury.[27] In a press conference, he expressed that it was "A very happy day", reflecting on his satisfaction in the decision he had made after his long struggles to return to peak condition, also speaking of his pride in representing Real Sociedad and respect he had for the staff at the club.[28]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental[a] | Other[b] | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Real Sociedad B | 2004–05 | Segunda División B | 23 | 7 | – | – | – | 23 | 7 | |||
| 2005–06 | 34 | 12 | – | – | 2 | 0 | 36 | 12 | ||||
| 2006–07 | 12 | 3 | – | – | – | 12 | 3 | |||||
| 2007–08 | 30 | 9 | – | – | – | 30 | 9 | |||||
| 2008–09 | 9 | 1 | – | – | – | 9 | 1 | |||||
| Total | 108 | 33 | – | – | 2 | 0 | 110 | 33 | ||||
| Castellón | 2006–07 | Segunda División | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 23 | 7 | ||
| Real Sociedad | 2004–05 | La Liga | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 3 | 1 | ||
| 2005–06 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | ||||
| 2006–07 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 6 | 0 | ||||
| 2007–08 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | ||||
| 2008–09 | Segunda División | 28 | 9 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 28 | 9 | |||
| 2009–10 | 36 | 6 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 37 | 6 | ||||
| 2010–11 | La Liga | 11 | 3 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 13 | 4 | |||
| 2011–12 | 36 | 10 | 3 | 2 | – | – | 39 | 12 | ||||
| 2012–13 | 34 | 14 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 36 | 15 | ||||
| 2013–14 | 31 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | 40 | 8 | |||
| 2014–15 | 31 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | 37 | 7 | |||
| 2015–16 | 16 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 16 | 13 | |||
| 2016–17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2017–18 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 13 | 0 | |||
| Total | 246 | 71 | 14 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 273 | 75 | ||
| Career total | 362 | 105 | 14 | 4 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 390 | 109 | ||
Real Sociedad
