Earlier today, Barcelona announced their second major signing of the summer transfer window, confirming that Inigo Martinez had signed on a free transfer.
The 32-year-old arrives as a free agent after his contract with Athletic Club expired on June 30. He has signed a two-year contract with the club until the summer of 2025 and has a release clause worth €400 million embedded in it.
Reports suggest that Martinez will be earning wages of around €9 million per year gross during his time at Barcelona.
Now, the defender has spoken out on joining the La Liga champions and expressed his delight at making the move, insisting that it took a lot of time and hard work for him to reach the highest level.
As quoted by AS, Martinez said: “I arrive with a lot of enthusiasm, wanting to contribute everything I have, to come to this great club is tremendous. Many years to finally make that leap that any player desires.”
The Spanish centre-back then touched upon how the Blaugrana have showed great confidence in him from the first moment and now he wants to repay it by helping the team win as many titles as possible.
“The confidence from the first minute was very great and I hope to repay it on the pitch with my work. To aim for the maximum, to win as many titles as possible, but we all know that it is usually complicated and there is a lot of hard work behind it,” Martinez said.
“If we are good and we do things as well as we did last year, the results will come.”
On the prospect of playing under Xavi Hernandez as his manager, Martinez added: “It is a luxury to have him as a coach. We’ve been following him since he was playing, and those of us who like football look up to players like that.
“Having him as a coach, with what he can give us and teach us, is going to be wonderful.”
