Bayern Munich have completed the signing of Athletic Bilbao’s Spain midfielder Javi Martinez, the Bundesliga side said yesterday, in a deal widely reported to be worth a German record of €40 million.

Martinez, 23, had rescinded his contract with Bilbao – which had a buyout clause of €40 million – and been given permission to join Bayern by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) and the professional football league (LFP), Bayern said in a statement.

He has passed a medical and was available to play immediately.

“This was without question a complicated transfer so we are all the happier that Javi Martinez is finally with us,” Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said of the negotiations which have dragged on for several weeks.

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