Raimundo Pérez Lezama — Public People

Карьера и клубы

Club career

Refugee in England

Lezama was born in Barakaldo, Biscay but moved to England as a refugee at the age of 14. He entered at the port of Southampton on board the Habana on 23 May 1937, he and his brother Luis being among 3,889 Basque children fleeing the Spanish Civil War; some of the other refugees also became footballers, including Emilio Aldecoa, Sabino Barinaga and José Gallego. While in Southampton, Lezama played for his school Nazareth House (less than half a mile from The Dell), where he was spotted by Southampton and signed for the club as a trainee, eventually progressing to the reserves before making his first-team debut on 1 June 1940 in a 0–5 away defeat against Arsenal. His next game was at Craven Cottage, when the "Saints" fielded five Arsenal players (Ernie Collett, Leslie Compton, Eddie Hapgood, Leslie Jones and Bernard Joy) in a 2–1 victory over Fulham, with both goals for the victors being scored by local boy Eric Webber despite the plethora of stars. Lezama played one further match, a 1–3 defeat at Charlton Athletic at the end of an extended wartime season. Despite being underage, he briefly worked as a driver for the Royal Air Force.

Athletic Bilbao

On returning to Spain in 1940, Lezama joined Arenas Club de Getxo in Segunda División. In 1941 he signed for Athletic Bilbao, and made his La Liga debut on 27 September 1942 in a 5–0 home win over Real Betis. The 1942–43 season saw the side, with a team that also included Telmo Zarra, José Luis…

▸ Источник: Wikipedia