Athletic Bilbao boss Ernesto Valverde has weighed in with his opinion on the speculation surrounding Asier Illarramendi joining his club and admits that he likes the Real Madrid midfielder.
It emerged earlier this week that Real Madrid are considering an offer from Athletic Bilbao for Illarramendi and the player’s future at the club is under a cloud at the moment.
Inter Milan have also enquired about the midfielder’s availability, but the former Real Sociedad man has claimed that he is happy at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Athletic Bilbao are considered favourites to land the Spaniard this month, but Valverde has refused to add more mileage to the speculation.
He admits that he likes the midfielder, but said that Illarramendi is a player who continues to be linked with a move to Athletic Bilbao.
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“Illarramendi is a good player”, Valverde was quoted as saying by Marca.
“Whenever there is speculation, names of four or five players are always linked with Athletic.
“We’ll see whether this is just speculation or not.”
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