MADRID, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Athletic Bilbao on Monday confirmed it has reached an agreement with Portuguese side Sporting Braga to sign 24-year-old forward Alvaro Djalo for a fee that could rise to 20 million euros (21.7 million U.S. dollars).
Djalo becomes the club's third-most expensive signing after Inigo Martinez and Yuri Berchiche. He will join Athletic Bilbao next season and has agreed a five-year contract until the end of June 2029 to strengthen an attack that contains the Williams brothers, Nico and Inaki.
Although he was born in Madrid and has spent the last six years in Portugal, Djalo fits into Athletic Bilbao's policy of only signing players born or raised in the Basque region, as he was brought up in the town of Basauri, next to Bilbao and began his career in the local team, Begona.
Djalo was promoted to the Braga first team in August 2022, scoring five goals and giving six assists in 41 appearances, while this season he has netted 14 times, including five goals in the UEFA Champions League. ■
