Bilbao's plan to keep Real Madrid at bay

A day after committing his future to the club, Kepa insisted that "I didn't have a verbal agreement with Real Madrid." With that, it appeared that the rumours would finally come to an end, but with the transfer market as it is, that was never going to happen.

The Spanish international signed a deal to keep him at the San Mames until 2025, with an €80m release clause in place to make that happen.

However, given the calibre of clubs chasing  the Basque star, that fee doesn't seem particularly prohibitive.

Real Madrid remain one of the teams on Kepa's tail, having given 'Los Blancos' an insight as to his ability wih a fine display at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night.

His performance drew praise from Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane and left-back Marcelo and now 'Mundo Deportivo' reports that Athletic are set to take drastic measures to tighten their grip on the 23-year-old.

The Spanish publication reports that the Basque side are preparing another new contract for their star, in an attempt to ramp up his release clause, amid fears that at least one club is already making moves to invoke it.