Athletic president details the minute-by-minute saga of Laporte's return

Al-Nassr defender Aymeric Laporte, not without difficulties and FIFA's intervention, has finally made his return to Athletic Bilbao. The Basque club openly admits that the transfer was extremely complex.

Details: Athletic president Jon Uriarte held a press conference summing up the transfer window, with Laporte’s return taking center stage. Uriarte came thoroughly prepared and broke down, minute by minute, how the process unfolded.

Quote: “In August, there was a revolution in Al-Nassr’s management, and all our previous contacts left the club, which made negotiations extremely difficult. We never took a hard stance and even offered more money to unlock the deal.

On ‘D-day’, things were clear from Athletic’s side. At 18:47, the contracts were sent; nearly two hours later (at 20:26), Al-Nassr informed 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 a new paragraph. At 23:05, we sent the contract, signed by the player, to Al-Nassr, and at 23:52, we received it signed by all parties. Athletic uploaded the document to the TMS, and Al-Nassr confirmed it at 00:51.

It was an enormous undertaking. FIFA needed less than 24 hours to approve Athletic’s position after receiving the final appeal.”