As happened in January of last year with the departure of Maroan Sannadi to Athletic, Barakaldo once again suffers a great … loss at the end of the winter market. Albacete, a team that plays in the Second Division, paid at the last minute the termination clause of Víctor San Bartolomé, the most decisive footballer of the Gualdinegros this season and also one of the most loved by the fans. The 25-year-old midfielder from Baracalda is one of the midfielders with the most goal participation in the entire First Federation, with seven goals and two assists to his name.
Víctor San Bartolomé landed in Lasesarre last summer after passing through Bilbao Athletic, Celta Fortuna and Real Unión. Injuries stopped the great expectations he generated in his day in Lezama. However, he has been able to reinvent himself in his hometown team. In 19 games and 1,100 minutes, he has registered a goal participation every 122 minutes. The only midfielders with better numbers in this third national rung are César Palacios -Real Madrid Castilla- (11) and Kike Márquez -Zamora- (10).
Therefore, several Second Division teams had his name on their agendas. The last day of the market was passing and it seemed that the people of Baracald would hold it off until the summer. However, Albacete has accelerated the operation at the last minute, has paid the termination clause and has acquired his services. In this way, Barakaldo once again loses its main attacking bulwark in January, as happened last season with Maroan Sannadi. A painful blow for the manufacturing entity.
Lack of knowledge of Barakaldo
Barakaldo has not been aware of this movement until today at noon. Albacete had not contacted the Gualdinegros at any time. Therefore, the surprise has been capital. Luckily, just today, they announced the arrival of Álvaro Peña, a luxury reinforcement, who can also play in that same position. Unwittingly, they have found a substitute for the hard loss of San Bartolomé.
Álvaro Peña has a long career. The 34-year-old midfielder played two Europa League games for Athletic in the 2012/13 season. Afterwards, he has played a total of 241 games in the Second Division, between Lugo, Alcorcón, Albacete, Mirandés and Amorebieta. Last year he was key in the promotion to the silver category with Andorra and, in the first round, he has been a fixture in a team recently relegated to the First Federation, such as Racing de Ferrol. However, he wanted to be close to home and asked to go out for personal reasons. A great market opportunity.
/https://i.s3.glbimg.com/v1/AUTH_da025474c0c44edd99332dddb09cabe8/internal_photos/bs/2026/b/C/Fn3AVnQgKp8TkKKAC2yw/whatsapp-image-2026-05-07-at-23.41.09.jpeg)