Carlos Gurpegui

Carlos Gurpegui is a Spanish midfielder playing for Athletic Bilbao.

He is a product of Lezama’s academy that belongs to Athletic’s youth system. He made his first appearance on March 31, 2002 when his team were beaten by Villarreal. Later on Carlos tried not to lose his main squad position in the rest of the games for the club (121 games in 4 seasons).

On November, 2002 Gurpegui was disqualified for using nandrolone in a game against Real Sociedad in September of 2002. The ban was put off many times because of the constant appeals made buy the player to the court. The player claimed that his body produces nandrolone naturally when playing football. Nevertheless in the end he had to submit to the decision of the court and accept the ban that lasted till April 23, 2008.

Gurpegui was mostly used as a backup player after the appearance of Javi Martinez. But soon their position in the team levelled and they even played alongside with each other. Nevertheless Marcelo Bielsa came to the club in the season 2011/12 simultaneously relegating Carlos to the bench.