Iñigo Martínez has appeared publicly again. The second time this year after leaving the mixed zone in Elche. He said that about: “I am very calm, in my place, I know how the world of football works, a lot of blah, blah, blah… people talking without knowing, I am happy, I feel good”. He has done another dribbling exercise after dribbling so as not to deal with the tricky issue of whether he goes to Barcelona, something that in Bilbao is taken for granted. There are no open negotiations to renew with Athletic and the question is whether the culé club will return to the fray in January and whether the rojiblanca board will open up to a negotiation. The normal thing is that it ends in June and I pack my bags without receiving a penny. “I am happy here, I feel very comfortable, my future is not clear at all. These issues of my renewal… this is neither the time nor the place to talk. The day it arrives, we’ll talk”, it has been dispatched on Onda Vasca, to then cling to the topic that “my representatives and the club take care of it, I stay out of it, doing things as best as possible”, because he believes that “this will It can get confusing and I avoid topics of this type”.
It is normal to handle this type of speech when someone thinks about leaving a club. “I’m going to follow my own, defending these colors until the end”, he adds to continue ensuring the affection of the San Mamés fans. On social networks it is already being agitated that his departure is something like a betrayal, without reaching the extreme of what he did with the Royal Society to make the leap to the eternal enemy. “These are comments that hurt, there is too much talk, I am used to this type of thing, I don’t lose focus, knowing what I have to do defending these colors, trying to give my best for Athletic”.
Everything is paralyzed in Bilbao, waiting for Laporta to make a move, there may be an imminent attempt after Piqué announced his retirement. “The negotiations are there, my representatives take the issue, doing the best for me and for the club, and the club, the same. I will fight until the end and let it be what God wants”. A phrase that already gives clues about the outcome that is going to occur. If it is God who has to solve it… “I am very happy here, happy, I come every day with a smile, I feel loved and that is the most important thing”. This question makes him feel uncomfortable: “The subject is a bit tiring, I don’t think about it much. He has to keep fighting for this club until the end of the season”.
Yesterday against Real Valladolid he entered the rotations, he was a substitute, three days before Luis Enrique offers the list for the World Cup. “I’m used to playing I don’t like seeing you on the bench, but they are the coach’s decisions that I have to accept”. Valverde used that he let him rest due to the accumulation of games. “If he said it, it will be so, he will do it with the team in mind. It’s not like he’s going to give it more thought, “he launches. He emphatically states that He is physically well, without the slightest sequel to the discomfort in his knee that blocked him in the preseason and the start of the course.
In addition, he has words of encouragement for a Yuri who came to confess that he no longer enjoys playing soccer as before. “They seem like bullshit, but they take their toll on you. Between all of us we try to raise his head, in all the jobs you suffer and here, too, we are human and there are situations that overwhelm you. You have to accept it and return as soon as possible. The important thing is that each player knows how to handle each moment without raising his head too much”, reflects the central Ondarrutarra. He also endured many attacks when he left Anoeta. “With the Real there were a lot of comments, they come to you, you have to know how to handle them, social networks do a lot of damage.” But once he landed in Bilbao, everything was joy: “Since I arrived, the fans have received me wonderfully, I walk like one more on the street, I am very grateful to the fans and to this city, which has supported me since I arrived” .
His hope is to be part of the final list for the World Cup. The wait ends on Friday. “It is one of the things that excites me and I would love to be, an opportunity that I will never have. It will be difficult to be, but I never lose hope, until I see her, I’m not entirely sure. If I see myself, I’m delighted and if not, I’ll keep working to be in the next calls”. He reveals that no information has ever reached him before a list was made official, “and knowing Luis Enrique, everyone finds out the same… If I’m lucky, I’ll go and fight and give my best.”