Iñigo Martínez close to Al Nassr: Heading to Saudi Arabia
Spanish defender Iñigo Martínez is in advanced negotiations to leave Barcelona and join Al Nassr, where he shares a locker room with Cristiano Ronaldo. This is revealed by sources close to the player.
Although Martínez has a contract with the Catalan club until June 2026, Barcelona would be willing to facilitate his departure as a free agent.
Last summer, the 34-year-old defender received a tempting offer from the Saudi Professional League, but Barcelona’s sporting director, Deco, convinced him to stay.
Iñigo’s departure would not generate direct income for Barcelona, but it would free up a considerable amount of salary, which would allow other players to be registered.
Barcelona still doesn’t comply with the 1-1 rule, which allows the use of 100% of the money received from player registrations. However, they could use 60% of Iñigo’s salary to register other players.
Nine days before the start of LaLiga, Barcelona has still not been able to register Joan García, Wojciech Szczesny, Marcus Rashford, Gerard Martín and Marc Bernal (both will be registered with the first team), Roony Bardghji, as well as Hector Fort and Oriol Romeu, who are not in Hansi Flick’s plans.
Iñigo’s departure would be a significant loss from a sporting point of view, as the center-back was a regular starter for Flick in the heart of the defense last season, alongside the young Pau Cubarsí, contributing to winning the LaLiga and Copa del Rey titles.
Iñigo arrived at Barça in the summer of 2023 as a free agent after his contract with Athletic Club ended. His first season was marked by injuries, but in the last campaign he played 46 matches.
Flick also counts on Ronald Araujo and Eric García to cover the central defense and will welcome Andreas Christensen, who missed much of last season due to injury.
