Barcelona confirmed the arrival of defender Inigo Martinez on a free switch on Wednesday on the finish of his Athletic Bilbao contract.
The signing of the 32-year-old centre-back, a Spain worldwide, on a contract till 2025, continues the Catalans’ current coverage of hiring skilled gamers at zero switch price.
Barcelona signed Manchester City captain Ilkay Gundogan in related trend final week and purchased Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen and AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie after their contracts expired final summer season.
“(Martinez) will sign for two seasons, until June 30 2025, and will have a 400 million euro ($435 million) release clause,” mentioned the Spanish champions in an announcement.
Martinez, who got here by way of at Real Sociedad and performed for them for seven seasons within the prime flight, moved to Athletic in January 2017.
Athletic Bilbao paid his 32 million euro ($35 million) buy-out clause, which stays a membership document payment.
Martinez performed 177 occasions for Athletic, scoring eight targets and profitable the Spanish Super Cup in 2021, in addition to reaching two Copa del Rey finals.