Ander Barrenetxea (footballer)

Ander Barrenetxea Muguruza (born 27 December 2001), commonly known mononymously as Barrene, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Real Sociedad as a forward or left winger.

Club career
Born in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Barrenetxea is a graduate of Real Sociedad's youth setup (he joined the club from Antiguoko in 2013, on the same day as Martín Zubimendi).

In the 2018–19 season, he began to train with the senior team, while registered with the club's C-team playing in the amateur fourth tier. In early December 2018, he renewed his contract until 2025.

On 22 December 2018, Barrenetxea made his professional and La Liga debut as a late substitute for Real Sociedad in a 1–0 home loss against Deportivo Alavés. In so doing, he became the first player born in the 21st century to appear in the competition, the 26th-youngest debutant in the division overall, and the club's youngest since the Spanish Civil War (behind only 15-year-old Pedro Irastorza in 1934). By coincidence, the player who left the field, Juanmi, was even younger when making his bow in the competition eight years earlier.

Barrenetxea's rapid progression to the senior team made him the first youth product to appear at that level without already playing for the club's B-team, known as Sanse, since Antoine Griezmann did likewise in 2009. Two days after his breakthrough, he was back playing with the C-team.

Barrenetxea made his debut for Sanse on 6 January 2019, scoring on his debut in the third tier in a 3–0 home victory over Izarra. He scored his first professional goal for the first team on 12 May, in a 3–1 home victory over Real Madrid.

On 9 June 2019, Barrenetxea was definitely promoted to the main squad of the Txuri-urdin. He played a part in the club's run to the 2020 Copa del Rey final, starting in the earlier rounds (contributing three goals) and coming off the bench in the quarter-final win against Real Madrid at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. The final was delayed for almost a year due to COVID-19, with Barrenetxea introduced as a late substitute in the 1–0 Basque derby victory over Athletic Bilbao.

He missed the second half of the 2021–22 season with a thigh injury which required surgery, but recovered successfully after an operation by surgeon Lasse Lempainen in Turku, Finland. By February 2023, he had reached the milestone of 100 appearances for the club, aged 21; at the end of that season, Real qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in a decade.

International career
Barrenetxea was called up for the Spain Under-16 team in 2016 and 2017, and appeared for the Under-18s in November 2018. He also featured for the regional Basque Country in the same age groups.

He was selected for the 20-man Spain squad for the 2019 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, and came on as an 80th-minute substitute as Spain beat Portugal 2–0 in the final to be crowned winners of the competition.

Honours
Real Sociedad
 * Copa del Rey: 2019–20

Spain U19
 * UEFA European Under-19 Championship: Champion 2019

Spain U21
 * UEFA European Under-21 Championship: Runner-up 2023