Athletic President Shares Minute-by-Minute Details of Laporte’s Return

Aymeric Laporte, a defender from Al-Nassr, has successfully returned to Athletic Bilbao, though not without challenges and the involvement of FIFA. The Basque club acknowledges that the transfer was quite complicated.

Details: Athletic’s president Jon Uriarte held a press conference to recap the transfer window, with Laporte’s return as the main focus. Uriarte provided a detailed explanation of how the process unfolded.

Quote: “In August, there was a leadership change at Al-Nassr, which caused all our previous contacts to leave the club, making negotiations very tough. We maintained a flexible approach and even offered more money to facilitate the deal.

On the final day, things were clear from our side. At 18:47, we sent the contracts; nearly two hours later, at 20:26, Al-Nassr told us they wanted to prepare their own version of the document. By 21:25, both sides had reached an agreement.

Al-Nassr was supposed to send the final version with an added clause. At 23:05, we sent the contract, signed by the player, to Al-Nassr, and at 23:52, we received it signed by everyone. Athletic uploaded the finalized document to the TMS, and Al-Nassr confirmed it at 00:51.

It was a significant effort. FIFA took less than 24 hours to approve our position after receiving the final appeal.”