Barcelona submit first offer for Athletic Club’s Inigo Martinez

Barcelona already have five central defenders on their books, but there appears to be concrete interest in adding a sixth.

As per Sport, the Blaugrana submitted a first offer for Athletic Club defender Inigo Martinez on Tuesday night. The 31-year-old defender is out of contract next summer and Sporting Director Mateu Alemany has decided to test the waters with an opening offer of €15m.

Athletic Club are trying to persuade Martinez to renew his deal but so far Martinez has rejected any advances and told the club he does not want to extend his stay in Bilbao.

It remains unlikely that Athletic will accept the offer. The Basque giants are financially solvent and stand more to lose in the player than they do financially.

Should the move come off, then it would surely indicate that Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez does intend on using a back three at times this season. Otherwise it would seem rather redundant to be signing so many central defenders to play in just two positions. It is worth noting that Sergino Dest and Jordi Alba are the only natural full-backs at Barcelona currently, although Sergi Roberto has played there before.

Tags Athletic Club Barcelona Inigo Martinez
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