Athletic and Eibar agree loan for Elijah Gift | OneFootball

Athletic Club and SD Eibar have agreed a loan for winger Elijah Gift until the end of the season, with no option to buy and clauses that cut Eibar’s payments if he plays regularly. He will reunite with Jokin Aranbarri, his former Bilbao Athletic coach.

According to El Correo, Aranbarri’s presence was central to Eibar securing the move, with Gift also attracting interest from an English club.

Athletic had planned for him to alternate between the first team and Bilbao Athletic, but later judged a Segunda loan the better route given the difficulty of first team minutes.

Gift began pre-season with the seniors, completing medicals, training under Edin Terzić and playing in the first four friendlies for 145 minutes without a goal or assist, before switching to Bilbao Athletic duty in August.

Signed from Liverpool’s academy in July 2023 for 1.5 million euros, the first transfer fee under Jon Uriarte, he is a left-footed, quick and direct winger strong one-on-one who can operate on either flank. He made 30 appearances for Bilbao Athletic last season, scoring two and supplying two assists, and was called up by Ernesto Valverde for the last Champions League match against Sporting at San Mamés without making his debut.

Source: El Correo

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”