A day as formal as it was happy that Iñigo Martínez (Ondarroa, 1991) lived this Thursday. The Basque central defender can now say with all the letters that he is a FC Barcelona player after officially signing his contract, lasting two seasons and with a clause of 400 million euros, and being presented by the president Joan Laporta.
“It is a pride and a pleasure to be part of this great family”, he pronounced dressed in the new Barça shirt on the pitch of the Tito Vilanova field of the Joan Gamper sports city.
The works at the Camp Nou, which continue at a good pace, forced the club to move the event to its training center, where Iñigo Martínez finally enjoyed his first quiet moments since landing at Barça, a few days that he has spent training hard, in the gym and with specific work on the green, to finish recovering from his foot problems.
“I have been dragging discomfort all year and it has been complicated. At the end of the season I underwent a small intervention and since then I have been noticing improvement day by day,” the Basque defender already explained in the press room. “The club has told me that there is no rush, that the first thing is to recover,” he added, without wanting to set a date for a possible comeback.
Beyond his technical qualities, the experts agree that he is a “very complete” centre-back, Iñigo Martínez has a leadership capacity in a dressing room that has been taken into account when choosing his move to Barça.
“We were looking for a motivator for our teammates, it is the profile that the coach was asking for,” Joan Laporta revealed during the event. “We have very close references to his unquestionable leadership, we have valued Iñigo’s character a lot,” continued Mateu Alemany, football director. And, of course, the protagonist also offered his version. “I would highlight my competitive character, I can help the team with that. There are many young people in the dressing room who need to learn from others and I have a way of competing, of always wanting to win, which I know how to transmit”, concluded Iñigo Martínez.
As has happened with almost all the latest FC Barcelona signings, the figure of Xavi has been fundamental when the players make the final decision. “Let no one doubt that when Barça calls you, the rest of the teams remain in the background. But with Xavi’s first call I really noticed that he wanted me in his team,” he confessed.
Iñigo Martínez was not alone in such a special day. His wife, his two daughters, his sister, his parents, his cousin, his cousin’s daughter and his agent (Carmelo Sánchez Agirre), who is also his second uncle, accompanied him at all the stops at the event, from the green to the press room.
The new Barça defender has not yet found an address to establish his residence in this new phase of life, which he will specify when he returns from the tour of the United States. At the moment, a house near the beach is what the player and his family like the most.
