Rummenigge: We can't buy Martinez

Posted Tuesday, July 17, 2012 by ESPN

Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge feels neither Barcelona nor his club can sign Javi Martinez as Athletic Bilbao refuse to budge over his €40 million release clause.

The young midfielder shone in the Europa League last season where his combative displays as well as passing range alerted the top European clubs of his ability. Barcelona have been noted admirers of the player and Bayern have similarly made enquiries over the summer hoping to persuade the Spaniard to make the move to the Bundesliga for the coming season.

But Rummenigge confessed that negotiations appear to be going nowhere as the Basque club is unwilling to lower its asking price for the player. The Spanish club is renowned for fielding Basque-only players and has always been very reluctant in selling off any players and made no player sales in the previous summer window.

"I'm not optimistic, to be honest," the Bayern official told the TZ newspaper.
"[Athletic's] president [Josu Urrutia] has always emphasised that he doesn't want to sell the player for a price under the clause.

"That's an amount of money that hasn't existed in Germany before.

"There is no club in Europe that is willing to pay that price. I have a good relationship with Barcelona, and Barcelona aren't prepared to do so.

"You have to see the whole transfer business very rationally. There are some players who are worth it, but not many in this world."

Rummenigge had earlier said last week that Bayern were not looking to add any more recruits in the summer transfer window and would instead be focusing towards preparing for the new season.

But the 56-year-old has backtracked on the comments and said that it will be upto coach Jupp Heynckes and new sporting director Matthias Sammer to decide if Bayern need to strengthen further with any new signings.

He did admit regret over narrowly missing out on the Bundesliga, the Champions League and the DFB-Pokal last term and stated that the board have sanctioned player purchases if the coaches deem it as necessary to avoid a repeat of the last season.

"I spoke with [Sammer] on Friday. Matthias is making an analysis of the current situation, and then we will all agree: if there is a need for improvement, we will deal with it.

"It is often the last two or three per cent which decides whether you become German champions, win the Champions League, or whether you unfortunately don't.

"And Matthias has a very good relationship with Jupp Heynckes. Jupp is very happy that he has Matthias at his side.

"If the need is there, and there are interesting people on the market, we will do something. I can now predict, however, nothing serious. But the board is giving the green light [for further activity]."

Bayern have already signed Claudio Pizarro, Xherdan Shaqiri, Dante and Mario Mandžukić and are in the market for a new defender as well as a holding midfielder of Martinez's calibre.