Dani Vivian (Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1999) is here to stay. The Athletic Club center back, undisputed starter for Ernesto Valverde, is part of the Spanish National Team’s squad for the friendlies against Colombia and Brazil on March 22 and 26 respectively. It’s not surprising. And even less to Luis de la Fuente. The national coach has been seen in San Mamés on more than one occasion with several open fronts… and a list of names on the table. “Since he was a cadet of You could see that it was made of another material, that it was different, very mature,” they acknowledge from one of their first clubs.
Dani Vivian started playing football for San Viator, where he remained until he was 9 years old. Later, he went through the youth ranks of Deportivo Alavés and CD Lakua. But stood out in Ariznabarra, one of the three best teams in the Basque capital along with the lower teams of Glorioso and Aurrera. “He spent three seasons here, until he was a second-year cadet. He started as a midfielder, so look [risas]. “He spoke to you with a temperance that was not usual in such young boys.”says Unai, one of his first coaches. In addition to football, he also practiced judo: “Yes, yes. He did judo and was pretty good at that discipline too… “He was made to dedicate himself to sport, that’s clear.”
The potential that was already presumed while he was at Ariznabarra, added to his conditions (“he already had the body and legs of a footballer,” they remember), led him to make the jump to Santutxu in 2015. There he ran into Ibai Gómez, Youth C coach with past at Athletic and Deportivo Alavés. In fact, Then they shared a locker room and training sessions. when the winger, now retired, returned to San Mamés in the last years of his career.
Despite the changes, His life remained the same: I studied in Vitoria in the mornings, left class, took a bus and a metro (an hour and a half journey) to get to Santutxu and then back home. “She has always been very responsible. He continued living in Vitoria with his parents and brother despite playing for Santutxu. He came and went every day,” says his entourage. In fact, he himself explained it in his talk The Journey for World Children’s and Adolescents’ Day: “My daily life was to leave the house at seven thirty, Return at three thirty, eat, go to the station in Vitoria, get to Termibus, metro to Santutxu, train and repeat the trip in reverse. He arrived home around ten at night. “I was in the 1st year of high school and, of course, I always had homework.” The only thing that changed was his position on the field: he became central.
“He wasn’t just any player and Athletic was able to detect that very quickly. He put his leg and his head where others wouldn’t…”, they add. So it was. After having a good season in the Santutxu youth C team, Athletic entered the scene and closed his signing. At just 17 years old, he played in the Third Division with CD Basconia, a subsidiary of the Bilbao club. He finished his bachelor’s degree, in his case scientific-technical, and He started a degree in Accounting and Finance at the University of Deusto. He also completed a master’s degree in this same field. “He has always given great importance to training and reading. He really likes to read. He is a person restless about reading, about knowing, about knowing…”, they reveal. His favorite book, Metamorphoses by Franz Kafka, was the novel chosen by the center back to explain his career in a talk with the Athletic Foundation.
“He put his leg and head where others wouldn’t…”
His good performance in the Third Division opened the door to ownership at Bilbao Athletic and, shortly after, He began to show his head in the dynamics of the first team. He participated in the preseason of the first team in 2019 under the command of Gaizka Garitano, former Almería coach. “You could already see the makings of a very good centre-back, it was obvious”they explain from Basconia.
Some back problems delayed his jump to professional football, which finally arrived in the 20-21 season with Mirandés: “As soon as I arrived in Anduva, at only 20 years old, They give him the captain’s armband. He is a leader, he has a lot of drive and values that have led him to where he is, he has loved it at home since he was little.” In Miranda de Ebro, Vivian played 32 games, scored two goals and became one of the revelations of the Second Division.
After completing his military service in Anduva, he returned to San Mamés, now as a first team player for all intents and purposes, in 21-22. “It reminds us of the central defenders of the 80s. It has much more quality than it seems. It is very accessible and his character is not that of a professional footballer,” his surroundings add.
This season, the Vitorian defender accumulates more than 2,600 minutes of play in 31 games, already consolidated as a starter alongside Aitor Paredes, another of the revelations of the course. “Being able to go from one thing to another and be focused on each one of them, and do that all day, every day. And, within that, find enjoyment and satisfaction,” he explained in his talk. Journey. Only in this way could his story and, now, his debut in a Spanish squad be understood.
Athletic Club
Spanish soccer team
2024-03-15 10:43:29
#put #leg #wouldnt #Relief
