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;[1] some of the other refugees also became footballers, including Emilio Aldecoa, Sabino Barinaga and José Gallego.

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,[5] with both goals for the victors being scored by local boy Eric Webber despite the plethora of stars.

[7] 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.

In 1957, Lezama joined SD Indautxu in the second level, where his teammates included emerging youngsters Chus Pereda and Miguel Jones.

He spent two further seasons in that tier with Sestao Sport Club, before rejoining first team in Spain Arenas de Getxo in 1960.