Born in
Zarautz,
Gipuzkoa, Argote began playing football with local
Zarautz KE, joining
Basque neighbours
Athletic Bilbao in 1975. He spent almost two full seasons with
the reserve side, making his first-team debut on 2 October 1977 by playing the full 1–0 home win against
Atlético Madrid, shortly before his 21st birthday. In
his first season Argote scored 11
La Liga goals in 28 games, helping to a final third place. He went on to form an efficient offensive trio with
Dani and
Manuel Sarabia, also groomed at the club; as Athletic won back-to-back leagues in 1983–84 he appeared in 65 matches combined, netting ten times. From 1984 onwards, Argote appeared intermittently for Athletic due to injuries. Late into the
1986–87 campaign, he suffered a
leg injury which put him out of action for several months; at the time of his injury the team stood fourth in the table, but eventually finished in 13th position. After 332 first division games for Athletic, in 13 years, Argote rejoined his first football club Zarautz, in the
fourth division for the first time in its history. He retired after one year, aged nearly 35. ==International career==