Why signing Inigo Martinez makes sense for Barcelona

We have enough centre-backs already. He’s 32 years of age. I get it. However, signing Inigo Martinez on a free transfer still makes a lot of sense for Barcelona.

For starters, here we have a ball-playing left-sided centre-back of which there aren’t that many at his level, and whose overall 83.6 pass completion rate, per WhoScored, isn’t that bad, even if Ronald Araujo (88.2), Jules Kounde (87.7), Andreas Christensen (93.2) and Marcos Alonso (91) all have better averages in that department.

Let’s be clear. Martinez is ostensibly being signed as cover, and with there being next to no drop off in terms of passing range, his ability both on the ground and in the air, the fact he’s a bit ‘old…