Barcelona on Wednesday announced the arrival of Spain defender, Inigo Martinez on a free transfer at the end of his Athletic Bilbao contract.
The 32-year-old Martinez signs a two-year contract with Barca and will compete with Ronald Arajo, Andreas Christensen, Jules Koundé, and Eric Garca for the center-back position.
Barcelona also signed Chelsea defender Andreas Christensen, AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessie, and Manchester City captain Ilkay Gundogan in a similar manner last week after their contracts expired.
The Spanish champions in a statement, “(Martinez) will sign for two seasons, until June 30 2025, and will have a 400 million euro ($435 million) release clause.”
Martinez started his career with Real Sociedad and played for them for seven seasons in the top flight, moved to Athletic in January 2017, making over 200 appearances for the club before joining their Basque rivals Athletic in a deal worth €32 million ($34.8m) in 2018.
Inigo Martinez played 177 times for Athletic and helped the club beat Barca to win the Spanish Super Cup in 2021, but will now embark on the next chapter of his career at the Spanish champions.
