La Liga 2016/17: Top 5 off-field mistakes of the season so far

#4 Athletic Bilbao making no signings

Aduriz has had to carry the goal-scoring burden all by himself

When a club implements an unwritten law that they may only sign players from Basque country, they’re severely limiting themselves as it is in the transfer market but nonetheless, Athletic Bilbao still had a pool of players to choose from when it came to making signings last summer. The only individual to come into the club at the start of the 2016/17 season was young goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga, who returned from his loan spell at Real Valladolid.

In the 2015/16 season, Aritz Aduriz finished top scorer for the club with 20 league goals, navigating the Basque side towards an impressive fifth place finish and Europa League qualification.

The club, therefore, had good foundations to build on heading into this term but refused to reinforce personnel which seems a strange decision, given that their key frontman is now 36-years-old and undoubtedly past his best.

He leads the way as their top scorer this term but with a mere eight goals, and the club are being left behind by the Europe-chasing pack, sitting in 8^th position at present, nine points behind fifth-placed Real Sociedad.

The club may not have sold a great deal of players at the start of the campaign but, with their rivals heavily investing in new signings, they have failed to progress this term. A new, top-class, out-and-out frontman was required to challenge and even supersede Aduriz and the lack of reinforcements is evident in the fact that the club have only managed 28 goals this term; to put that into perspective, bottom club Osasuna have scored just four goals fewer.