Star in the making: Mikel San Jose

Mikel San Jose is making a real impression back in Spain on loan with Atletico Bilbao.

San Jose arrived on Merseyside at the end of the 2006-07 season from Athletic Bilbao. The Basque player progressed through the youth ranks at the La Liga club and became a regular in the youth B team before moving to the A team in 2006.

Generally used as a centre-back, San Jose can also play in midfield and is somewhat known as a utility player and during his season with the Bilbao reserve team he played 27 times and scored 5 goals during 2006-07.

San Jose was also now becoming a prominent part in the national team youth setup and played an important role for Spain at the back during their successful campaign to lift the UEFA European U-19 Championship in the summer of 2007.

At the tournament, he caught the eye of Liverpool's scouts and an offer was made to the young Basque defender to join the Merseyside club. He however accepted a three year contract to join Liverpool and the Spanish defender had great ambitions on his arrival at Anfield.

During his two years at the club, San Jose has impressed in the reserves. At 6ft 1, he is an ideal height for a defender and he can also be a threat at set pieces in the opposition penalty box. Now 20 years of age at the start of this season, it was clear to Rafa Benitez and his backroom staff that the young defender needed to gain experience before making any first team appearances for the Reds. He had been an unused substitute in an away match against Chelsea in February 2008 but that was a close as San Jose had got to first team action.

Liverpool decided to accept a loan offer from San Jose's previous club Athletic Bilbao at the start of this season in the hope the Spaniard would gain invaluable first team experience in a top European league such as La Liga.

Initially though, San Jose was left out of the first team eleven for the best part of four months and until the start of November, had only featured in seven minutes for Bilbao in the first team.

However, fortunes have turned around in the last month. He has started Bilbao's last four games, scoring on his first start against Austria Vienna in the Europa League, following it up with a powerful header against Zaragoza in a league game two weeks ago.

Four starts, and two goals, is certainly an impressive start to his time in Spain, and the promise he showed in his early career looks like it is about to be realised.

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