World Sports: Inigo s departure is not in Barcelona s plan. On August 1, Saudi envoy went to South Korea for negotiations

"World Sports" reported that Inigo Martinez asked to leave the team and play in Saudi Arabia, not Barcelona needed him to leave to make room for a new player.

34-year-old Spanish defender Inigo Martinez negotiated with Barcelona to terminate the contract last weekend, and then joined Saudi team Riyadh to win. Inigo Martinez's departure frees up Barcelona's salary space and can register for new players in La Liga in the new season. However, "World Sports" said that the Barcelona club was not intended to let Inigor Martinez leave, but the player accepted the Saudi offer when he was in South Korea.

Inigo Martinez was an indispensable main central defender for Barcelona last season, making 46 appearances in various competitions, scoring 3 goals and assisting 6 times. Although the Saudi team had contacted Inigo Martinez in January this year, Barcelona coach Frick regarded him as a key player of the team and therefore never considered letting Inigo Martinez go.

After Barcelona started pre-season training this summer, Inigo Martinez has been training with the team normally, and there was no sign of him leaving the team at that time. On July 25, the whole Barcelona team went to Japan and then played a warm-up match with Kobe Victory Ship. In the first half, Coach Fric sent a main lineup. At that time, Inigo Martinez also started and continued to partner with KuBazi as a central defender.

On July 29, the whole Barcelona team went to South Korea. At first, Inigo Martinez still trained as usual, but he missed Barcelona's warm-up match against Seoul FC due to "slight discomfort", which became the first sign of change. On August 1, the special envoy sent by Saudi Arabia arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel where Barcelona stayed in Seoul and held its first official club-level talks with Barcelona.

On August 2, Inigo Martinez participated in Barcelona's training normally. But on August 3, Inigo Martinez only came to the training ground for a few minutes, then had a conversation with coach Flick and ended the training early. The official explanation given by Barcelona is Inigo Martinez "muscle fatigue". On August 3, Inigo Martinez was originally scheduled to be interviewed by the media, but Barcelona temporarily changed to Rashford to be interviewed. After

, Inigo Martinez did not participate in Barcelona's warm-up match against Daegu FC, and his departure procedure has been started. Inigor Martinez informed Barcelona club of the offer Saudi Arabia gave him and hoped to leave the team. Both Barcelona club and coach Frick believed that Inigo Martinez's request for departure could not be rejected, and finally agreed to terminate the contract with Inigo Martinez to restore his freedom.

The Daily Sports pointed out that Inigo Martinez's departure was not due to financial tensions at the Barcelona club, and his departure was not in the scheduled plan of Deco or Frick. Although Inigo Martinez objectively helped Barcelona meet the conditions for registering a new player after leaving, this was not Barcelona's active choice. In fact, Barcelona was still prioritizing other players leaving the team at that time rather than letting Inigor Martinez leave.