Eibar terminate Leonardo Buta's loan spell on deadline day
Portuguese full-back Buta heads back to Udinese after falling out of favour at Ipurua, with a move to Rio Ave now on the cards for the defender.
Eibar have made their first move of the transfer window right at the death, agreeing with Udinese to terminate Leonardo Buta’s loan deal prematurely.
Buta’s Ipurua adventure cut short
The Portuguese defender has found himself increasingly frozen out under manager Beñat San José, managing just 78 minutes across the last 11 league matches. His exclusion from yesterday’s squad was the final nail in the coffin for his time in the Basque Country.
Sources suggest Buta won’t be heading straight back to Italy but is instead likely to return to his native Portugal with Rio Ave reportedly set to secure his services.
Despite starting the season as a regular fixture in the Eibar lineup, Buta’s influence gradually diminished as the campaign progressed. San José has preferred to deploy Anaitz Arbilla at left-back in recent months, while youngster Arrillaga had also leapfrogged Buta in the pecking order with some impressive performances.
No new arrivals expected
All signs point to Eibar making no further additions before the window slams shut tonight. The club have been linked with only a handful of players in recent weeks, including:
- Bruno Langa (who has already moved to another Portuguese club)
- Rubén Pardo
Barring any last-minute surprises, it looks set to be a quiet deadline day at Ipurua headquarters.
Palacios press conference scheduled
Sporting Director César Palacios will face the media tomorrow (Tuesday) at 11:00 at Ipurua for his traditional post-transfer window assessment. With his contract up on June 30th, this could potentially be Palacios’ final transfer window at the helm of Eibar’s sporting operations.
However, before potentially moving on, Palacios still has significant challenges ahead, particularly securing contract extensions for several key players whose deals expire this summer. Mada and Jonmi have already committed their futures to the club, and they might not be the last to put pen to paper in the coming weeks.