BARCELONA
Barcelona sign Iñigo Martínez: how much did he cost?
The Basque defender has signed for the current LaLiga champions for two years and will be presented as a new player in the coming weeks.
Barcelona have finally stopped hiding the world’s worst kept secret and have announced the signing of Iñigo Martínez from Athletic Club. The 32-year-old centre-back has signed for 2 seasons and his release clause at the Catalan club will be €400 million; the defender will be presented as a Barça player next week.
Iñigo Martínez arrived at the club after not renewing his latest deal with the side from Bilbao, the team where he had played for a decade after a controversial move from local rivals, Real Sociedad.
What did Iñigo Martínez say after signing for Barça?
In his first interview as a culé, Martínez said he arrives at Barça “with a lot of excitement, ready to help the team with what I have. Coming to this great club is tremendous. I’ve spent a lot of years to finally be able to make that leap that every player wants to. The confidence I got from the first minute was great and I hope to give it back on the pitch. I’m going to try my hardest, to try and win all the trophies available, but we know it’s normally complicated and behind it all there’s a great team of people. If we are in a good way and do things well like last year then the results will come”.
As for Xavi, his new manager, Iñigo said that it was “a luxury to have him as a manager. We followed him ever since his playing days, those who like football know that this type of player are the ones we focus on. To have him as a coach, with everything he can give and teach, is going to be amazing”.
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Barcelona wanted to sign Martínez before
The Spain international almost signed for FC Barcelona seven years ago, when Ernesto Valverde was in charge, but it never materialised. This time around, Iñigo has made the move and has already been in his new city for a couple of weeks.
Last Tuesday (4 July), Iñigo travelled to the gym at the Ciudad Deportiva de Sant Joan Despí, where he met up with Alejandro Balde, who was recovering from the injury he suffered during the last game of last season. As well as the gym work, the defender took part in the official photo session that every player is required to do, where he posed with the new shirt for the 23/24 season.
Iñigo Martínez is the club’s second signing of the summer, after the official confirmation of ex-Manchester City midfielder, Ilkay Gündogan. His arrival will reinforce the position of left centre-back where Andreas Christensen has won a starting place after a strong season in the back line. The arrival of the Basque will directly affect other players in the squad, namely Marcos Alonso, who will now fight for the left-back spot, and Eric García, whose future is up in the air.
When will Iñigo train with Barcelona?
Martínez will start the new season on 10 July, the date in which some of the first team will return to pre-season training. A week later, the international players will join up with the squad ahead of their mega pre-season tour of the United States, where they will play four games in four cities.
How much did Barcelona pay for Iñigo Martínez?
His arrival at Barcelona, despite obviously commanding a wage, comes as something of a relief given that the player’s contract at Athletic had run out, meaning that Barcelona did not have to pay anything in a transfer fee and the player has subsequently arrived on a free transfer.
His signing has created controversy
The departure of the centre-back has caused some controversy in the Athletic Club-sphere, with the ex-president Iñigo Elizegi explaining that both the player and his agent rejected the contract extension, saying also that “Iñigo [and his agent] come out losing. There was time and calmness for the offer in the case of Iñigo Martínez. He told us ‘sorry, but we are going to wait”, relating to the club’s presidential elections and the arrival of a potentially new board of directors at the club.
Meanwhile, the current Athletic president, Jon Uriarte, assured that the club wanted to resign Iñigo and that it was the defender who “wanted to leave”, and he “firmly” told his agent at the end of last season.
