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For the past two days, reports from Spain have said Aston Villa are providing competition to Barcelona in the race to sign Athletic Club Bilbao’s Íñigo Martínez in the summer.

On Thursday, Sport stated the Villans have made offers to the centre-back, who favours a move to the Camp Nou.

This is dismissed by Super Deporte, who insist Aston Villa haven’t sent any proposal to the 31-year-old so far.

The Spain international has a contract expiring in June and hasn’t yet made a decision on his future. In addition to this, the Basque club have not contacted the player or his agent to discuss the renewal.

Barca tried signing the defender last summer and are still chasing him. They are not alone as the Premier League side have ‘entered the auction’ to secure his services.

Aston Villa haven’t made a formal offer but would be ‘very interested in signing’ Martínez, at the request of Unai Emery.

Despite interest from elsewhere, the player extending his contract cannot be ruled out. In fact, Athletic plan to make a proposal, which will include a low salary compared to the one they offered a few months ago.