Barcelona are actively pushing to sign 22-year-old Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams this summer. Deco has already met with the player’s agents in Zaragoza to iron out details of a potential contract.
Nico’s performances for Bilbao last season followed by a stupendous Euros have made him a transfer target for many clubs around Europe. Whilst Barcelona might be leading the race, the Premier League clubs have not given up.
Despite the Spanish club’s obvious desire to make Nico wear the Blaugrana shirt, financial issues could still scupper Barcelona’s plans this summer. The club is yet to return to the 1:1 rule without which signing the 22-year-old will be impossible.
According to renowned Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano writing in his exclusive Daily Briefing column, PL clubs like Chelsea and Arsenal have been interested in signing the winger for quite some time now.
However, the Basque club’s demand to pay the €58m release clause in full combined with the player’s salary and commission demands have put off the two clubs.
Romano, who is usually known to be very reliable when it comes to transfer updates has assured Barcelona fans that the club is pushing to sign Nico. However, should they fail in their attempt, PL clubs are lurking.
“Barça know that Premier League clubs are coming. Barça know that big Premier League clubs are already trying to understand what’s going to happen and, maybe, they hope in England that things could collapse for Barcelona because of Financial Fair Play, so that they can enter the race.”
Due to the Catalan club’s financial predicament, it’s never truly over until Nico officially signs for the club. Even then, we have seen Barcelona struggle to register players they have signed and they will need to iron out all these details before pulling the trigger on his release clause.
Hansi Flick is spearheading a new project in Barcelona. His Bayern Munich team had an exciting verticality about them due to the presence of wingers like Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry. Barcelona can try to replicate the same model with Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams.
It will not be easy to pull off this Nico operation. The one thing that Barcelona have going for them is the player’s desire to join the club and let’s hope they can find a way to get this deal over the line as soon as possible.
