Unai Simón’s Commitment to Athletic Club: No Release Clause, No Exit
In an era when contracts come with escape routes as standard, Unai Simón has chosen the opposite. On 24 May 2024, the Athletic Club goalkeeper signed a new deal with the Basque side. No release clause. No safety net. Just a statement.
Simón did not stop at the signature. He doubled down with words that carry the weight of someone who knows exactly what this club means to him.
“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 told 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 usual contract rhetoric. Simón framed his bond with Athletic as something far deeper than legal language or market value, something that sits closer to identity than employment.
“I will not leave this place,” he said. “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.”
It is an extraordinary stance in modern football: a Spain international goalkeeper, a World Cup winner, saying in plain terms that no sum of money can tempt him away, and that only the club’s decision could ever push him out of San Mamés.
Copa del Rey Over the World Cup – At Least in His Heart
To understand the scale of that attachment, Simón reached for the biggest comparison a footballer can make: the World Cup.
“There’s no comparison between the Copa del Rey celebrations and the World Cup celebrations,” he admitted. On paper, that sounds obvious. One is the pinnacle of the sport, the trophy every player dreams of lifting. The other is a domestic cup, however historic.
But Simón was not talking about prestige.
“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.”
Professionally, the World Cup stands above everything. Emotionally, it does not come close. His voice, in those remarks, belongs to someone who has felt a city move around him, not just a nation applaud him from afar.
“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,” he said. “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 Athletic squad on the traditional boat, the riverbanks packed, Bilbao painted red and white – explains his choice better than any clause ever could.
For Simón, the contract is just paper. The real commitment is written on those streets, on that water, and in a promise that could hardly be clearer: as long as Athletic want him, he is not going anywhere.
