Toronto FC transfer rumours: TFC trying to sign Athletic Bilbao midfielder

The transfer gossip has been flooding in this week. This morning, rumours broke from sources including The Athletic’s Joshua Kloke that Toronto FC are interested in signing Athletic Bilbao attacking midfielder Ager Aketxe (spelling that took a few tries).

The undersized 24-year-old attacker has been part of the La Liga club’s development system pretty much his whole career, spending time at feeder club Basconia, and B-team Bilbao Athletic.

He spent some of 2017 on loan at Spanish second-division club Cadiz. Aketxe has made 14 first-team appearances for Bilbao, scoring one goal.

According to several reports, Tim Bezbatchenko has already travelled to Spain to meet with Aketxe and smooth out the final details.

If it goes through, this would be a fantastic signing in my opinion. A young, dynamic player who has caps this year in the Europa League and La Liga? Aketxe would also address what I see as TFC’s only major need left for this transfer season. He and Victor Vazquez together in midfield could certainly be a thing of beauty.

Aketxe seems to prefer a central attacking role where he can make quick passes and launch attacks. It actually sounds like some of his skillset is similar to Vazquez’s. So, I’d imagine he’d be best-suited to a TFC formation in which both he and Vazquez can play as CAMs (it looks like Aketxe might be wasted on the wing).

Here’s a highlight video I found of his passing in midfield (it starts a little lackluster, but it gets better, trust me).

What do you think?