In the very home stretch of the winter transfer market on Tuesday evening, Ander Herrera, initially loaned to Athletic Bilbao by PSG, was definitively transferred to Spain.
If the amount of the transfer had not then filtered, the president of the Basque club allowed himself to say a little more on Friday.
In remarks reported by the Basque newspaper Deia, Jon Uriarte revealed that the 33-year-old midfielder had been released … graciously by the Parisian club.
“During the presentation we made in San Mamés (in August 2022), we had already said that Ander was going to stay with us for two years.
The loan was transformed into a transfer.
All this at zero cost, without paying a euro for the loan, nor for the transfer.
This is an administrative process that we finalized this week.
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Paris has chosen to sit on a few million
The value of the former Spanish international, who arrived free in Paris in the summer of 2019 from Manchester United, has shrunk to a trickle in recent seasons.
But it is still valued at 4 million euros according to the specialized site Transfermarkt.
Its sale without compensation may therefore seem surprising for a club which must not miss an opportunity to boost its accounts a little, because it is exposed to a new sanction from the UEFA control body.
Ander Herrera today: "I knew I would stay at Athletic until 2024. Formalization is just an administrative matter."
pic.twitter.com/1HqPu5ckeH
- Athletic Club FR (@AthleticClub_FR) February 1, 2023
But it corroborates the fact that the transfer of Herrera was mainly decided to allow the transfer on loan of Keylor Navas to Nottingham Forrest.
With eight player loans in progress since the start of the season, Paris had, in fact, reached the quota authorized by FIFA for each club.
To be able to lend again, he therefore had to repatriate a player or remove him permanently from his workforce.
The second option was chosen for Ander Herrera, now under contract at Athletic until June 2024. The Spaniard will have played 95 games with Paris, including a Champions League final in 2020.