Goodbye and good luck Inigo Martinez – Barcelona will miss you

When Inigo Martinez signed for Barcelona in 2023, on a free switch no much less, culers may’ve been forgiven for pondering that he was simply one other stop-gap possibility because the Catalans continued to familiarize yourself with La Liga’s stringent Monetary Honest Play guidelines.

A foot harm not lengthy after signing delayed his debut but in addition meant that he was initially fifth selection behind the likes of Eric Garcia, Pau Cubarsi, Ronald Araujo and Andreas Christensen.

When the Dane received injured new coach, Hansi Flick, gave Martinez a possibility, and it’s one which he gleefully took with each palms.

His partnership with Cubarsi flourished in opposition to the percentages, with each gamers complementing one another.

The teenager, already an excellent defender in his personal proper, will certainly have realized so much from the elder statesman of the defence, significantly with reference to management and dedication.

For all the fantastic soccer that Barcelona play there’s all the time room within the group for a warrior, and that’s exactly what Martinez was.

No airs and graces and never making an attempt to be one thing he wasn’t. Only a good old style centre-back, and a really, superb one at that.

A measure of how a lot he’s beloved right this moment by supporters of the membership may be seen by the outpouring of shock on social media concerning his shocking transfer to the Saudi Professional League.

​Flick has already famous that it’s one thing he may’ve finished with out, and the expectation after the very good season he had in 2023/24 must be that each he and Cubarsi would once more have been the centre-back pairing of selection, even with everybody else now match and raring to go.

​Simply how a lot he can be missed can be seen inside a number of weeks of the 2025/26 La Liga marketing campaign beginning.

His calming and authoritative presence on the again has but to be replicated by any others in situ and that could possibly be the largest miss of all.

Although his causes for leaving the membership would look like purely monetary, and that’s greater than a bit of disappointing, one can nonetheless perceive why he’s chosen such a path at this late stage of his profession.

After confounding the critics at Barca he deserves to see out the remainder of his profession wherever he needs.

Culers may be each completely happy and unhappy on the flip of occasions too. Unhappy as a result of Barca have misplaced a titan of a centre-back, however completely happy that they noticed some advantageous performances to assist the membership to a home treble.

Thanks, Inigo. Go properly.