Julen’s joy as football becomes his priority
IT would scarcely be considered the most obvious hub for Primera Liga protagonists to head for prior to continuing their careers in the top flight of Scottish football.
With all due respect to the good people of East Fife, Bayview remains one of the country’s less salubrious outposts. Most of those who pull on the shirt in Methil do so out of a love of the game, rather than as a means of furthering their football careers.
Julen Etxabeguren is the exception to that rule. Within seconds of clapping eyes on the Spaniard last season, East Fife manager Gary Naysmith knew this was a footballer playing way beneath his level. A dozen years spent with Real Sociedad might just have suggested that.
Now thriving at Dundee, the Madrid-born defender’s return to the fold after a three-game absence was central to a display that earned Paul Hartley’s men a deserved point at Tynecastle and might well have brought them all three.
Tough, but intelligent and composed on the ball for the 82 minutes he was on the field, the 24-year-old’s class lit up an otherwise error-strewn affair.
So how does a player named in Sociedad’s Champions League squad just two seasons ago arrive at Dens Park via Methil?
In short, Etxabeguren has brains in his head as well as his feet. Already in possession of a degree in Electrical Engineering, a desire to complete his Masters coincided with him reaching the end of his tether in the Basque Country.
Unwilling to wait on more promises of opportunities being broken, he decided to change his own luck by turning down a contract offer to complete his studies in Scotland while playing part-time. Football was placed on the back-burner during his season in Methil, but the offer of a threeyear contract from Dundee in the summer has forced him to switch priorities again.
‘Last year, I decided the best thing was a change of atmosphere — to go to another country,’ explained Etxabeguren.
‘Everyone was talking to me about the same things in Spain and I wasn’t feeling well. So the best thing was to come here where I had an opportunity to finish my Masters degree in Edinburgh.
‘I was working in an enterprise place developing a system called li-fi. Like wi-fi, but with light streams.
‘I was playing part-time but still training every day on my own. Maybe I was thinking one day I’d have this chance to play in the top league. I worked hard last year and here is the opportunity.
‘Right now I’m fully focused on football. It only lasts until your 30s, so I have enough time to work as an engineer after that.’
Although he never made a first-team appearance at the Anoeta Stadium, trips to some of European football’s citadels were commonplace. Worlds apart from Annan, Montrose and Berwick.
‘It’s a big difference going from full-time football to part-time. Really hard,’ he conceded.
‘But Gary Naysmith was really friendly and all the lads at East Fife were amazing. I enjoyed my time there.
‘I don’t have any regrets. That was the best solution for me, at the time. It wasn’t good (at Sociedad), my head wasn’t on football and it wasn’t the right atmosphere to develop in.’
Dundee fans can only be thankful he belongs to them for the foreseeable future.
A goal down through Arnaud Djoum’s clinical header on 24 minutes, the Dens Park side might well have wilted under the glare of another capacity Tynecastle crowd.
But a vastly improved secondhalf display — the cornerstone of which was Etxabeguren’s superlative reading of the game — brought them an equaliser with 23 minutes remaining.
With Juwon Oshaniwa slow in pushing out, Rory Loy latched on to Greg Stewart’s through ball and left Neil Alexander helpless with a thumping right-foot finish.
Having been on top for so much of the first half, Hearts were unable to re-engage top gear. Robbie Neilson must have been more than a little relieved when Kevin Clancy’s whistle ended the affair with honours even.
Almost all of the positives for the home camp came in that opening 45 minutes, with Djoum relishing the space Dundee’s midfield initially gifted him.
The Belgian’s finish from Callum Paterson’s cross was his third goal since joining as a free agent after the transfer window closed and the anxiety over his short-term deal expiring in January is very understandable.
‘My agent is speaking with the club, but I think we can find a solution so I can stay longer,’ he said. ‘You can see I enjoy it. It is a really good team and coach. That’s why I feel great here.’
He has felt a long way from home in the past week or so, however. A succession of police raids in Belgium following the events in Paris have been unnerving.
‘My parents are not living far away from these kind of people and, for me, it’s a very hard time now,’ he said. ‘I’m always thinking about them. You never know what can happen and I hope it will be better soon.
‘Yes, it is really difficult to concentrate on football, you think about your family. These are such bad times now.’