MADRID, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Athletic Bilbao president Aitor Elizegi has given a bullish message to supporters as he approaches his 100th day in charge of the club.
The 100 days since Elizegi was elected have seen Athletic produce an impressive run of form under coach Gaizka Garitano, climbing out of the bottom three to sit ninth in La Liga with 37 points from 28 matches, and challenge for a place in Europe next season.
The turnaround has come despite some limitations with the squad, and the club is working to extend Garitano's contract as first-team coach of Athletic, which only signs players born or raised in the Basque region of northern Spain and southwest France.
"My dream is for Gaizka Garitano to be with us for three years," Elizegi said. "The start he has made with us has been brilliant. He has been able to steer the ship and he understands perfectly what this club is."
He added that the club was "in good health," noting that Athletic was in a position to consider signing big-name players such as Ander Herrera, Fernando Llorente or Javi Martinez, all of whom have previously worn Athletic's red and white shirt.
"We have the capacity to make this kind of signing. There would be no problem from an economic point of view. Any one of those three players could be in the squad," he said.
Of those three, Bayern Munich midfielder Martinez is the one who could be closest to a return to the San Mames stadium, with Elizegi commenting that "if it was agreed with the sporting commission, Athletic could pay 20 million euros (22.6 million U.S. dollars) for Javi Martinez without any problems."
