Athletic Bilbao have just instructed Man City to reach further into their pockets for £31.7 million, if they want Spanish Midfielder Javi Martinez to join their ranks.
The young Spaniard seems to be grabbing a lot of attention from clubs all over, ranging from Barcelona, to Manchester City, to Bayern Munich. However, Athletic Bilbao won’t sell him for less than £31.7 million.
No one can blame them though. When you have such an effective duo like Javi Martinez and Fernando Llorente (who is also in high demand), you aren’t going to give them away for peanuts.
Barcelona have already been chased away with the high price, and chose Alex Song over the Spaniard.
So it seems that it’s between Man City and Bayern, as to who will get the 23-year-old. Athletic Bilbao President, Joshua Urrutia, states that he will only even consider selling, if the bids and the release clause add up.
“I’ve always said that in order for a player to move, there are two conditions: that they do not interest Athletic or the clause is met. Neither of these conditions have been met,” said Urrutia.
Martinez himself has admitted that he would rather go play for the German champions rather than the English Premier League champions, and has even accepted a cut in his annual salary. However, this has not stopped City from keeping their doors open for this
new transfer.
There are still a few issues for Bayern to sort out in trying to snatch Martinez, mainly legal issues.
Every football player in Spain has a release clause, and thus they need to be sold for at least the amount written in the release clause.
Along with this, tax has to be paid on the player’s value. So Bayern have to dig in deep enough to get the money needed for Martinez’s transfer.
“It seems like the Basques are not only proud but also complicated. There are still some tax and legal problems to be sorted out. Once this is done, the transfer will be finalized,” says Rummeninge.
So it seems like the young Spaniard is likely to move to Bayern Munich rather than Man City and the fans in Germany are waiting for the transfer to take place sooner rather than later.
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