Unai Simón’s Commitment to Athletic Bilbao: No Release Clause

In an era when contracts are written with escape routes and exit strategies, Unai Simón has chosen something almost old‑fashioned: permanence.

On 24 May 2024, the Spain goalkeeper signed a new deal with Athletic Bilbao. No release clause. No safety net. Just a signature that matches what he has been saying – and living – for years.

He then put his feelings into words that cut through the usual transfer-market noise.

“I don't think the question of whether or not there's a release clause necessarily reflects the truth of your feelings towards Athletic Bilbao,” he said in comments highlighted by Spanish newspaper Marca. “In the end, when you want to prove that you love something or someone, you do so through your daily actions. You have to prove it every day.”

This is not the language of a player keeping his options open. It is the language of someone who has already decided where his footballing life belongs.

Simón made it even clearer. Contract or no contract, his bond with Athletic runs deeper than any legal document.

“I will not leave this place,” he insisted. “Even if someone came and paid the release clause value of 150 million, I still would not leave. I don't want to leave. If Athletic Bilbao tell me next season that they don't want me to continue, I'll pack my bags and go, despite the intense pain that will accompany it, but as long as the club wants me to stay here, I won't move from my place.”

That last line is the essence of Athletic. The club decides. The player serves. Pride and pain walk side by side.

For Simón, that sense of belonging reached its peak in April, when Athletic lifted the Copa del Rey. He is a World Cup winner with Spain, yet when he weighs those two experiences, the scales tilt in a way that says everything about who he is.

“There's no comparison between the Copa del Rey celebrations and the World Cup celebrations,” he admitted. “For me, the five days I lived after winning the Copa del Rey alongside my friends, those close to me and my team-mates, are nothing at all like the tribute I received after the World Cup, which, on a professional level, represents the highest any player can reach.”

The World Cup is the sport’s summit. It defines careers, reshapes reputations, rewrites history. But it is distant, global, almost abstract. Bilbao is home.

“But in terms of passion, and the feelings you give to people or that people make you feel, the matter is completely different, at least for my surroundings,” Simón added. “Those five days were among the most wonderful days of my life, and they were completed in exceptional fashion with the trophy celebration procession aboard the traditional boat, which was stunning.”

That image – the goalkeeper on the traditional boat, Copa del Rey held aloft, city roaring from the riverbanks – explains his contract better than any clause ever could.

Simón is not just staying at Athletic. He is anchoring himself to it, choosing the roar from the Ría over the lure of the market. In a football world obsessed with the next move, he has already made his last one.