Athletic Bilbao will sign Spain defender Aymeric Laporte from Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr after Fifa changed its initial decision and approved the transfer.

The La Liga club originally tried to bring in the 31-year-old on 1 September but the move was not completed before the transfer deadline.

The Spanish football federation (RFEF) then asked the world football governing body to make an exception but the request was denied. It sought to overturn the decision - the request was then granted.

Spanish media said Al-Nassr had not filed the details of the transfer online into Fifa's transfer matching system.

"Athletic Club would like to report that Fifa has authorised the RFEF to obtain the International Transfer Certificate (ITC) from the Saudi Arabian football federation," said Athletic in a statement.

"Once the ITC is issued, Aymeric Laporte can be registered with Athletic Club."

Laporte made more than 200 appearances in his first spell at the Basque club between 2012-18 before spending five years at Manchester City and then moving on to Al-Nassr in 2023.