Martinez wants title with Bayern

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 ($48.63 million), setting a new Bundesliga record.

"I am simply delighted to finally be here," Martinez told German newspaper Bild on Thursday, having only played UEFA Europa League football with Bilbao.

"I will start training with the club immediately."

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 7:58pm local time on Wednesday.

"This is one of the best teams in the whole world, at least one of the top two or three," he added.

"It is a huge honour for me to be a part of this club."

Brief appearances off the bench at the 2010 FIFA World Cup and EURO 2012 mean Martinez already has World Cup and European championship 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' and insists the defensive midfielder is in his plans.

Former Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer said he was excited about seeing Martinez play for Munich.

"I am very curious about this purchase," the 66-year-old told Bild.

"It used to be that you only paid so much money for a striker, while defensive players were brought up from the youth system.

"Times have changed. "

Beckenbauer said he had no problem with Bayern paying out such a large sum for Martinez, who joined Bilbao in 2006 as a 17-year-old.

"Why would you leave the money on the fixed deposit account, since you hardly get any interest for it anyway?"

Bayern has already strengthened its squad this season with midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri arriving from Basel, striker Mario Mandzukic from Wolfsburg and Brazilian defender Dante from Borussia Monchengladbach.