Bilbao rules out Higuain move

The sporting director of Athletic Bilbao, Rafa Alkorta, has ruled out the possibility of the club signing Gonzalo Higuain when his contract with Juventus expires next summer, as quoted by Marca.

Bilbao have a rule of recruiting players exclusively from the Basque region. It was, however, recently reported that they might still move for the Argentine striker because his grandfather was born there. For that reason, Higuain has dual citizenship. It was believed it would be a suitable loophole in the strict rules applied at Bilbao, but Alkorta says that is not the case.

The sporting director indicated that he considers the 32-year-old a great player and appeared to regret that the rules are so strict, but he is adamant that they will be respected. He couldn’t be sure that it won’t be different in the future, but he is quite sure that right now, a player’s grandfather being born in the Basque region isn’t enough to make that player an option for them to consider.