Ernesto Valverde: “Iñigo? We’re calm, focused on the job and we’ll see.”

In an interview that appeared on Marca, Athletic Bilbao coach Ernesto Valverde gave his thoughts regarding the Iñigo Martínez situation.

The 31-year-old has been closely linked with Barcelona, with the Blaugrana reportedly making a €15 million offer to sign him. Martínez’s contract with the Basque side is set to expire in June 2023 and renewal talks have come to a standstill.

However, with Barcelona coming close to arriving to an agreement with Chelsea to sign Marcos Alonso, it seems very unlikely that the Bilbao centre-back will go to the Catalan side.

Despite the tense situation, Athletic Bilbao coach has reaffirmed that everything is calm in the club’s dressing room:

“I don’t know what will happen. We’ll see how the month goes. We are calm, focused on the job and we’ll see.”

He believes that the situation is similar to the one involving Neymar during his time Bacelona, but maintained that Bilbao are better at handling these kind of affairs than the Blaugrana:

“I don’t have to deal with anything here. Everything is going great and we’ll see.”

Valverde also discussed his thoughts regarding the first game of the season:

“I want to win the first league game. We all know that pre-season is a realm of fantasy because everything is fine. What’s important is what’s going to happen in a few days.”

GSFN

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