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.