Gaizka Toquero

Gaizka Toquero Pinedo (born 9 August 1984) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played mainly as a right winger.

He spent most of his career with Athletic Bilbao, appearing in 207 competitive matches during seven La Liga seasons and scoring 24 goals, and becoming a fan favourite for his endeavour.

Club Career

Early years

Toquero was born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Alava. After a brief youth spell at Real Sociedad, and some years with both reserve teams of Deportivo Alaves where he had also featured in his formative years, he started playing professionally for SD Lemona in the 2006–07 season, later joining Basque neighbours Sestao River Club (both clubs were in the third division).

While playing for Sestao, Athletic Bilbao showed interest in acquiring Toquero, who eventually signed him in 2008. After not being part of Joaquin Caparros' plans in pre-season, he was loaned to neighbouring SD Eibar greatly due to new manager Carlos Pouso, who had coached the player before.

Athletic Bilbao

After 15 matches in 2008–09's second level, Toquero was recalled by Athletic on 4 January 2009, making his La Liga debut six days later by appearing as a second-half substitute in a 1–1 home draw against RCD Espanyol. He scored his first goal for the team on 4 March in a 3–0 home win in the Copa del Rey over Sevilla FC (4–2 on aggregate) which qualified Athletic for the final: there, he opened the scoring, albeit in a 4–1 loss to FC Barcelona.

Blessed with few technical skills but a tremendous hard-worker – which earned him the affectionate nickname of Lehendakari– in 2009–10 Toquero blossomed into a first division player. He started most of the campaign as an attacking complement to Fernando Llorente, and also found the net on several occasions, notably a double against Real Valladolid on 7 March 2010 in a 2–0 home success.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Гаиска Токеро (russian)