Athletic Bilbao extended the contract of central defender Fernando Amorebieta on Thursday.

Athletic Bilbao's Fernando Amorebieta (2nd R) celebrates a goal next to team mate Aitor Ocio (L) during the second leg of their King's Cup quarter final soccer match against Racing Santander at San Mames Stadium in Bilbao January 31, 2008. [Xinhua/Reuters]

The 23-year-old Amorebieta, who has made 76 first team appearances for the club, played 34 times last season and was partly responsible for the Basque outfit's improvement for last season.

His form was rewarded by Spain coach Vicente del Bosque this August after Del Bosque included him in his first squad since replacing Luis Aragones as the man in charge of the national team in July.

Amorebieta didn't play. But the call up was a sign of his improvement as a player and also that he was thought to be on the wanted list of Premier League teams such as Liverpool.

Now Athletic have acted to make sure they can keep together the backbone of their squad. Amorebieta has extended his deal until June 2013 and has increased his buyout clause to 50 million euros, just 24 hours after Athletic extended the deal of midfielder Javi Martinez until 2013.

(Xinhua News Agency September 19, 2008)