On Wednesday, Barcelona announced that defender Inigo Martinez would be joining the club on a free transfer after the conclusion of his contract with Athletic Bilbao.
With the signing of the 32-year-old center defender, who has represented Spain at the international level, on a deal that will last until 2025, the Catalans have continued their recent practice of recruiting experienced players without paying a transfer fee.
In a deal that was quite similar to the one that Barcelona made with Manchester City captain Ilkay Gundogan last week, Barcelona also acquired Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen and AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie after their previous contracts with their respective teams ended last summer.
According to a statement released by the Spanish champions, “(Martinez) will sign for two seasons, until June 30th, 2025, and will have a 400 million euro ($435 million) release clause,”
Martinez joined Athletic in January 2017 after spending his whole career developing at Real Sociedad and playing for them in the top division for a total of seven seasons.
His buy-out clause was satisfied by Athletic Bilbao, who paid the then-club record cost of 35 million euros (about 32 million dollars).
Martinez appeared for Athletic 177 times, scoring eight goals and leading them to the Spanish Super Cup and two Copa del Rey finals during his tenure there. Martinez also won the Spanish Super Cup in 2021.