Moroccan Defender Aymane Jelbat Set to Join Athletic Bilbao from Alavés

Athletic Bilbao and Deportivo Alavés are in talks for the transfer of Aymane Jelbat. An agreement has already been reached and the player only has to sign the final contract to make the transfer official, reports El Correo. Aymane Jelbat has been on Athletic Bilbao’s radar since last season. The club failed to acquire the Moroccan player during the last winter transfer window to strengthen its defense, which lacked reactivity. This lack of defensive solidity led Bilbao to relegation to the second division.

Jelbat’s arrival is therefore highly anticipated in Bilbao to raise the level of play for the next season. A pure product of the Mohammed VI academy like Youssef En-Nesyri and Azzedine Ounahi, Aymane Jelbat has had an atypical career. While a player for Raja Casablanca, he had fled at the age of 15, with seven other teammates, the gathering camp during a tournament in Göteborg, Sweden to go to Almeria where he worked for several weeks in the greenhouses. He then joined Vitoria where he started his career in the youth team of CD Vitoria, then in the Preferente regional team.

With his physique (1.84 m) and his technical performances, particularly his speed, he quickly caught the attention of several big clubs. Deportivo Alavés managed to secure his services and he joined the Babazorros’ second reserve team in January 2022. After a serious injury, he was loaned by Alavés to the Fabril club, where he particularly shone. In 19 matches, he was a starter 14 times, as a central defender and left-back.