The Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has virtually admitted defeat in the pursuit of Athletic Bilbao's Spain international Javi Martínez and is doing nothing to hide his resignation on the subject.

"I have to be sincere, I'm not at all optimistic", revealed Rummenigge, whose comments were reported by the local Munich newspaper 'TZ', before stressing that the Bilbao club's hierarchy "has always insisted that it doesn't want to sell the player, and certainly not for less than his release clause".

As for the €40 million fee being demanded by the Basque giants for its international star, he said that "this sort of figure is unprecedented in Germany. No team in Europe would be willing to pay it".

"I have a good relationship with Barcelona and I know that the club isn't willing to shell out a fee of that magnitude either", the Bayern Munich chairman continued.

Finally, he concluded that "the figures being talked about are surprisingly high. The issue of transfers should be approached rationally; you shouldn't do things just for show in order to gain plaudits from the public".