Imanol Agirretxe

Imanol Agirretxe Arruti (born 24 February 1987) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is currently assistant manager of Real Sociedad B.

Aside from a short loan spell at Castellón, his entire professional career was spent at Real Sociedad. At the latter club, he amassed competitive totals of 272 matches and 75 goals, while in La Liga alone he scored 56 times from 180 appearances.

Club career Born in Usurbil, Gipuzkoa, Agirretxe was a product of Real Sociedad's youth system, arriving at age 16 from neighbouring Athletic Bilbao. He first appeared with the first team in 2004–05, making three substitute appearances; in his second, a 1–3 home loss against Málaga on 15 May 2005, he managed to score after just 16 minutes on the pitch. In the following three seasons, however, he only totalled nine league matches, and also served a six-month loan spell at Castellón in the Segunda División.

In 2008–09's second tier, Agirretxe appeared regularly for the main squad, mainly due to the serious injury to Iñigo Díaz de Cerio. He netted nine goals in 28 games, but the Basques again failed to return to La Liga.

Again mainly a backup after the signing on loan of Uruguayan Carlos Bueno, Agirretxe scored six times the following campaign in 36 matches, In 2011–12, following Raúl Tamudo's departure and the continuous physical problems that bothered Joseba Llorente, he was finally made first-choice, and netted three goals in his first two league games, two against Sporting de Gijón in a 2–1 away win and one against Barcelona, helping the hosts come from behind 2–0 for an eventual 2–2 draw; he finished with ten successful strikes, only trailing Carlos Vela in the squad.

Agirretxe came from the bench for the last six minutes of a home fixture against Barcelona on 19 January 2013, and scored in the last minute to seal a 3–2 comeback victory (Real Sociedad trailed 2–0 in the 40th minute) and end the Catalans' unbeaten domestic run. At the season's end he again finished second in team scoring (13), again only behind Vela.

At the start of the 2015–16 campaign, Agirretxe was in the best form of his career, scoring 12 times in the first 13 league matches. and returned sooner than expected the following February, netting in a 1–1 home draw against Málaga after only seven minutes on the pitch. Shortly after, however, he relapsed from his ailment, going on to be sidelined for more than one year; in June 2016, while absent from playing, he renewed his contract until summer 2020.

After impressing in the 2017–18 pre-season, Agirretxe made a return to competitive action on 19 August 2017 following a 20-month hiatus, replacing captain Xabi Prieto as their team came from behind to defeat hosts Celta de Vigo 3–2 in the opening round of league fixtures. He made 13 appearances in all competitions, but only played more than 45 minutes in two of them.

Agirretxe announced his retirement on 29 August 2018 at the age of 31, having never fully recovered from his 2015 injury. In a press conference, he expressed that it was "A very happy day", reflecting on his satisfaction in the decision he had made after his long struggles to return to peak condition, also speaking of his pride in representing Real Sociedad and respect he had for the staff at the club.

Agirretxe returned to Real Sociedad in May 2025, being named assistant manager of Iosu Rivas at the reserves.

International career Agirretxe earned caps for the Basque Country autonomous team.

Career statistics

Honours Real Sociedad Segunda División: 2009–10