Spain midfielder Javier Martinez said Thursday he has signed for Bayern Munich to win titles as the Bundesliga's most expensive player looks forward to making his debut for the Bavarians.
The 23-year-old put his signature to a five-year contract with Bayern on Wednesday and his transfer from Athletic Bilbao is reported to have cost Munich 40 million euros (US$50.2M), setting a new Bundesliga record.
Martinez flew to Munich on Tuesday night, passed the obligatory medical examination in the early hours of Wednesday, flew back to Spain to absolve his Bilbao contract and then returned to Germany at 7:58 pm local time Wednesday.
Having become the German league's most expensive player, Martinez said he is ready for the challenge and is set to make his Champions League debut with Bayern, who discover their group stage opponents in Thursday evening's draw.
"I was signed as a 17-year-old by Bilbao and they put six million on the table without me playing in the league, so I am used to pressure like this," Martinez said in Thursday's press conference to present him to the German media.
"It is a large sum of money, but that's no pressure for me, it's more like motivation. I am here to win titles.
"I wanted to come to Bayern and I want to put in good performances here.
"I can't wait to get out on the pitch and compete for the club."
"This is one of the best teams in the whole world, at least one of the top two or three and it's a huge honour for me to be a part of this club."
Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes was vague about whether Martinez will feature in Munich's opening home Bundesliga game of the season when they host VfB Stuttgart on Sunday.
"Javi must first of all have some peace and integrate with the team," said Heynckes with Martinez's family accompanying him to Munich.
"This is a very important process and the expectations on him are huge.
"It is not so important whether he is in the squad for Sunday, it is more important that he gets to know us first."
As the first Basque player to play for Bayern, Martinez attempted to speak German in Thursday's press conference and said coming to grips with the language is a priority.
"I had a bit of fear about about coming here, because it is a new country and a new language" he admitted.
"But my family is here, my mother is here.
"The coach speaks Spanish, which is a huge help for me.
"I will be learning German and freshening up my English."
Bayern's director of sport Matthias Sammer said the club will not be selling any players to make room for Martinez, who is expected to partner Germany's Bastian Schweinsteiger in the defensive midfield role.
"From a sporting point of view, his character fits well to the club," said Sammer.
"This is our squad and we will be respecting contracts."
Brief appearances off the bench at South Africa 2010 and Euro 2012 mean Martinez already has World Cup and European Championships winners medals, despite having made only a handful appearances for Spain.
But national coach Vicente del Bosque has said Martinez is 'part of our future'.
Bayern have already strengthened their squad this season with midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri arriving from FC Basel, striker Mario Mandzukic from Wolfsburg and Brazilian defender Dante from Moenchengladbach.
