Official: Barcelona renew Inigo Martinez till 2026 | OneFootball

Since their return to the 1:1 rule in La Liga at the very start of this year, FC Barcelona have been focusing on ensuring the long-term continuity of some of their most important players.

In this regard, they successfully completed one of the more complicated renewal operations, i.e., the renewal of Ronald Araujo, at the start of January, and then went on to renew other important players including Pedri, Gavi, and Pau Cubarsi.

However, their work in this regard is not yet fully complete, as there were two more players whom they wanted to renew in the immediate future, i.e., Robert Lewandowski and Inigo Martinez, while addressing other important contracts, like those of Raphinha, Kounde, and Frenkie de Jong, in the coming months.

Now, Barcelona have already achieved one of these short-term objectives, as they have officially announced on their X account the renewal of the Basque defender Inigo Martinez till 2026.

The centre-back’s previous contract was ending at the end of this season, but he had a clause in this contract that would have allowed him to continue for another year if he played at least 60% of the games this season for 45 minutes.

Being one of the fixed starters for Hansi Flick, there was no doubt that he would have reached this number. However, the Blaugranes wanted to show their confidence in the player by renewing him even before he triggered this clause.

Their earlier attempts to do so were foiled because of a lack of fair play margin. However, the sale of Vitor Roque to Palmeiras, which brought in €25.5 million for the Catalan club, allowed them to get the green light from La Liga to register Martinez’s new contract that goes till 2026.

While some more contract renewals are yet to be addressed, this renewal and registration with La Liga means none of the current Barcelona players will have to fear deregistration in the summer as all of these players’ contracts are now registered for their entire lengths.