The Bergara-born coach, former Real Sociedad player among other clubs, will be the assistant to the Canarian Miguel Ángel Ramírez.
The Real Zaragoza announced this Friday the appointment of Miguel Ángel Ramírez as the new head coach, following the departure of Víctor Fernández a week ago. The Canarian coach now takes charge of the team, accompanied by a new technical staff, which includes Beñat Labaien, former Real Sociedad, as his assistant. Ramírez (with past experience in clubs such as Independiente del Valle and Sporting de Gijón) and Labaien had already worked together until last September at Al-Wakrah in Qatar, and now they are starting a second professional adventure together.
The Gipuzkoan coach has always considered himself a coach, although his entry into professional football was more related to his work as an analyst. He worked as an analyst at Elche and Leeds United before joining Real Sociedad in the summer of 2018. At Real Sociedad, also as an analyst, he was always part of the first team’s technical staffuntil December 2022, when he got the opportunity to start his solo coaching career. He joined Tokushima Vortis in the Japanese second division, where he managed the team until August 2023.
With Ramírez
After nearly a year off, Labaien had a brief experience as an assistant coach at Al-Wakrah, and now his next step is joining Real Zaragoza. Coach Miguel Ángel Ramírez has signed a contract for one and a half seasons, until June 2026. With Zaragoza in mid-table and clearly on the decline during the season, Labaien and his staff’s challenge is to improve the performance of a team with potential but a very young squad , which has recently been struggling under the pressure of the sporting needs of such a historic club.
In recent weeks, Labaien had other interesting opportunities. He was very close to returning to Japan to become a head coach again, but this option fell through at the last moment. He was also approached by a La Liga club to join its technical staff, but the necessary circumstances didn’t align for his signing to materialize.
Labaien will now also work in Zaragoza with another coach with a past at Real Sociedad. At La Romareda, he will be the assistant to Ramírez, alongside the Alavés-born Endika Gabiña, who was responsible for recruitment in the lower categories at Zubieta until January 2023. Gabiña had already worked as Ramírez's assistant during their time at Sporting, having joined Gijón directly from Real Sociedad.
Source: Noticias de Gipuzkoa