“Eight years ago in a football tournament in Arrigorriaga, in the penalty shootout, he scored a goal for us with the rabona. We already knew him from having faced him and he already seemed different. He took the ball, put it on the spot and scored with a rabona. We were angry and asked ourselves: ‘What is this kid doing?'”. Gari Serna, his rival that day, remembers what happened on the green as if it were yesterday. The protagonist of that story was only eight years old. Now, the surprised one is Iñaki Williams himself. Incredulous at what he had just seen, he turned to his boxing companions (Sannadi, Sancet, Prados and companions) to share his amazement at the action that took place on the green of San Mamés. A beardless man of just 18 years old, named Selton and nicknamed Sánchez, had been the protagonist of a new genius, another rabona.
“In the end it’s doing the same thing, but surrounded by people who love you. I felt very supported from the stands and we have to reciprocate that affection on the pitch. I’m sure my family shed a few tears”, declared the red and white footballer at the end of the duel against Oviedo, in which he was making his debut with the first team in the league. A week earlier he was dissatisfied with his first call. He experienced the derby defeat from the bench, but, a few days later, against Newcastle he experienced one of those unforgettable days in the life of a young player. Lezama’s latest discovery, much liked by Ernesto Valverde, played his first minutes as a lion against the magpies. The expectations placed on him are as high as the number he wore on his debut, number 44.
“Selton is a footballer with a quality and self-confidence that attracts attention, who does not back down in the face of effort and moves forward. There are a lot of hopes placed in him. He is 18 years old and still has to build muscles. It is an important step for him”, recognized Ernesto Valverde himself about a footballer who started kicking the ball in the team from the San Miguel neighborhood of Abaroa, where his father also played. His performances soon attracted the attention of Lezama, who chose to bet on his talent.
Born in Durango (Vizcaya) in 2007, to a Brazilian mother and Basque father, he is a distant relative of the former Liverpool player, Roberto Firmino, currently playing for Al Sadd in Qatar after spending time at Saudi Al Ahli. He plays inside, the classic 8, but without becoming a midfielder. He stands out for his leadership, imbalance, vision of the game and a self-confidence that was evident in that action in which, as a rabona, he tried to assist Guruzeta. Praise is a constant for a player who has already made a difference in the Youth League, where Athletic have become one of the best teams in the competition. He amazed against Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund, especially against the Germans, where he scored two goals and scored a great goal in the 0-4 draw.
He also left some details on his debut against Newcastle. With everything lost and Athletic damaged, Valverde decided that the time had come to give the team a breath of fresh air and he succeeded with the entry, among others, of Selton Sánchez who in 20 minutes on the green of a legendary stadium like Saint James’ Park showed some of the qualities that preceded him, such as an assist to Laudrup which he pulled out of his sleeve and which almost reached Unai Gómez.
Selton is a youth international with the Spanish team and in his short career he has already known the bitter side of the sport. Groin pain and illness meant that he spent his last year in Basconia almost blank. He spent four months in dry dock and played just 14 games for Basconia, two more for the Juvenil Division of Honor and one in the Premier International Cup. This year he made his debut with Basconia of the Second Federation (four games), but he already knows what it means to make his debut with Bilbao Athletic, stand out in the Youth League and make his debut in the first team.
In the footsteps of Lamine Yamal
Selton’s projection is unparalleled. There are few cases of footballers who, playing in the Youth League with the youth teams, had the opportunity to make their debut with the first team that same year. Yes, Lamine Yamal did it. His Youth League debut came on September 7, 2022, at the age of 15. His debut with the first team came just six months later, on 29 April 2023, at the age of 15 years and 290 days, breaking the record for the youngest player in the history of FC Barcelona in an official match, held by Ansu Fati.
Kylian Mbappé, for example, took a year to make his debut with Monaco’s first team. The current Real Madrid player has only played one match in the said competition. He did it with the Principality team on 9 December 2014, just 11 days before his 16th birthday. Just a year later he was already in the Monaco first team. Matthijs de Ligt, now Manchester United centre-back, played the last of his ten UEFA Youth League matches for Ajax in February 2017. Three months later he played in the UEFA Europa League final against Manchester United. Leroy Sané, meanwhile, played 13 matches in the competition, reaching the semi-finals in 2013/14 with Schalke 04. A month after his last UEFA Youth League appearance, in February 2015, he scored his first Champions League goal against Real Madrid at the age of 19.
The case of Marcus Rashford was also very surprising. Five months after his two goals on his UEFA Youth League debut against PSV in September 2015, the Englishman scored another two on United’s first-team debut against Midtjylland in the UEFA Europa League. Selton has just arrived, but is already indicating how to stay.
