Mikel Arruabarrena Aranbide (born 9 February 1983) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a centre-forward. He is currently manager of Segunda Federación club Beasain.
Club career Born in Tolosa, Basque Country, Arruabarrena had stints with local giants Athletic Bilbao and Navarrese neighbours CA Osasuna, but did not made it past the reserves on either occasion. From 2006 to 2008, he played in the Segunda División with Xerez CDEl Xerez presenta a Raúl Medina y Arruabarrena (Xerez present Raúl Medina and Arruabarrena); Marca, 23 August 2006 (in Spanish) and CD Tenerife.Mikel Arruabarrena se marcha al Tenerife (Mikel Arruabarrena goes to Tenerife); Marca, 8 August 2007 (in Spanish)
Arruabarrena was bought by Poland's Legia Warsaw alongside compatriots Iñaki Descarga and Iñaki Astiz in June 2008.Arruabarrena ficha por el Legia de Varsovia (Arruabarrena signs for Legia Warsaw); Marca, 10 June 2008 (in Spanish) However, in January of the following year, he was loaned to SD Eibar also in his native region and the second division,El Eibar cierra el fichaje de Arruabarrena (Eibar complete the signing of Arruabarrena); Marca, 6 January 2009 (in Spanish) not being able to prevent the team from eventually dropping down a tier.Una regeneración completa, o casi, para una nueva etapa (Complete regeneration, or nearly, for a new spell); Gara, 3 June 2009 (in Spanish)
That summer, Arruabarrena arranged for a buyout of his Legia contractKontrakt z Arruabarreną rozwiązany! (Contract with Arruabarrena resolved!); Legionisci, 24 June 2009 (in Polish) to remain at Eibar permanently,«El gran interés del Eibar me obliga a decidirme pronto» ("Eibar's great interest forces me to decide quickly"); El Diario Vasco, 9 July 2009 (in Spanish) completing several seasons with the side in Segunda División B. On 12 December 2012, he was decisive in eliminating former club Athletic from the Copa del Rey, after scoring in a 1–1 draw at the San Mamés Stadium (his team progressed on the away goals rule).El pequeño se come al grande (Little fish eat big fish); Marca, 12 December 2012 (in Spanish)
Arruabarrena contributed 36 games and seven goals in the 2013–14 season, as the Armeros promoted to La Liga for the first time ever. He renewed his link with the club on 27 June 2014,Mikel Arruabarrena renueva por dos temporadas (Mikel Arruabarrena renews for two seasons) ; SD Eibar, 27 June 2014 (in Spanish) and made his debut in the competition on 24 August at the age of 31, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 home win against Real Sociedad.Lara seals dream start for Eibar; ESPN FC, 24 August 2014
Arruabarrena scored his first goal in the Spanish top flight on 24 September 2014, in a 1–1 home draw against Villarreal CF.Eibar 1–1 Villarreal; ESPN FC, 24 September 2014 On 24 January 2016, he was loaned to SD Huesca from the second division until the end of the season.Arruabarrena refuerza el ataque del Huesca (Arruabarrena bolsters Huesca offense); Marca, 24 January 2016 (in Spanish)
In 2016, Arruabarrena left Spain again, to join AEL Limassol of the Cypriot First Division. He returned to his country in January 2018, signing a two-year deal with third-tier CF Fuenlabrada.
Honours Eibar Segunda División: 2013–14
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