Barcelona have ticked another box in their assignment to register all their players prior to the end of the deadline, with Gerard Martín finally available to make his season debut.
The key to Martín’s registration was Barcelona terminating the contract of Oriol Romeu on Thursday, opening more salary space in the books.
Furthermore, Iñaki Peña extending his contract to until 2029 to defer salary in order to help with Financial Fair Play, plus his subsequent loan move to Elche, were pivotal to Martín’s registration.
Mere hours after Peña was officially registered as an Elche player, Martín’s name appeared in La Liga’s official website as one of the latest completed transfers that are eligible to play in the competition.
But, if Martín played for Barcelona last season, why is he an incoming transfer? Well, last year, Martín was technically a representative of Barça Atlètic—Barcelona’s B team. Now, as a 23-year-old, Martín no longer meets the age requirement to be registered as an academy player, so he had to be “transferred” and registered as a first-team player.
Furthermore, Martín had to ditch the No. 35 he donned a season ago given La Liga requires first-team players to utilize a number no higher than 25. As a result, Martín will switch to No. 18, a nod to his role-model and Barça legend Jordi Alba.
Martín was exclusively deployed as a left back a season ago, following in the footsteps of his idol. But in preseason, Flick used him as a center back as well. This isn’t a minor development given he’d be the only left-footed center back in Barcelona’s squad. Martín’s versatility might see him carve a more prominent role this term.
Earlier in the summer, many believed Martín to be viewed as a bargaining chip Barcelona could try to use to gather funds for other possible transfers. But after impressing during preseason, Flick vetoed any possible departure and even prioritized his registration, regarding him as an important squad player for 2025–26.
Now that he’s registered, he could very well make his season debut vs. Rayo Vallecano on Sunday, Aug. 31.
With Martín’s registration out of the way, Barcelona will focus on doing the same for Wojciech Szczęsny and Roony Bardghji—though there’s hope the registration of the former is a matter of hours rather than days.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Barcelona Finalize Defender Registration, Shirt Number Revealed.
