Deco meets with the agent of a Barcelona veteran… to speed up his renewal?
Iñigo Martínez has established himself as one of the key players in Hansi Flick’s project at FC Barcelona. The centre-back has become an undisputed asset for the German coach, as his contribution to the team transcends the sporting aspect thanks to his leadership and hierarchy.
However, his continuity in Barcelona is not yet 100% guaranteed, as his contract with the Catalan club expires next June, although it has a clause that would automatically renew for another year if he plays 60 percent of the games with a minimum of 45 minutes played.
So far, the Basque has played a total of 16 games with Barça (12 in La Liga and 4 in the Champions League), all of them as a starter. In the best-case scenario, the Catalans would play 61 games this season, so Iñigo would need to play 37 games for this clause to be executed. So, as of today, he would have 21 matches left to play, a figure that is, a priori, easy to reach.
Will Barça bring forward Iñigo’s renewal?
Despite this, the extension of his contract could come sooner than expected. According to ‘Jijantes’, last Saturday Deco, Barça’s sporting director, held a meeting in San Sebastian with Carmelo Sánchez, the defender’s agent, to let him know that at Can Barça they are more than satisfied with the spectacular level shown by Martínez this season.
Although, in principle, the subject of his renewal would not have been touched upon, the Portuguese director admitted in an interview with ‘Mundo Deportivo’ that “if we have to renew a player to have stability, because it is important, if we have to make decisions that help create this stability in order to win, we will do it. So if at some point, before they meet the objectives, we believe that we have to talk to the players, then we will do it.”
For his part, the footballer admitted at the time that “my thought right now is to play as many games as I can, that will get me the plus one (extra year) that I have“, which is why, if everything stays on track and there are no setbacks along the way, everything points to Iñigo continuing to wear the Barça shirt next season.
