Barcelona have been working for months over a deal for La Liga winger, contacts made | OneFootball

As has been well-established by now, Barcelona will continue scouring the free-agent market for reinforcements come the summer of 2024.

The Blaugrana’s current financial situation requires them to be shrewd in their transfer dealings and the club have proven themselves to be effective when it comes to landing players for free in the past few windows.

And the trend will continue next year with several candidates already understood to be identified, one of whom is Athletic Club’s Nico Williams.

Barcelona laying the groundwork

Indeed, Nico Williams is a player on Barcelona’s radar for the summer of 2024 as his contract with Athletic Club stands to expire.

The 21-year-old Spanish international has been on the La Liga champions’ agenda for some time now.

In fact, journalist Cristina Cubero via El Chiringuito TV is reporting that Barcelona have been working on a possible deal to sign Nico Williams for months now.

The journalist further indicates that there has already been contact between the two parties about a potential transfer in the summer.

A product of the Athletic Club academy, Nico Williams has emerged as one of the breakout prospects in La Liga over the past year or so.

The young winger had made a fine start to the 2023/24 campaign with the Basque club and then shone for the Spanish national team earlier this month, although an injury halted his progress for now.

Nico leaning towards contract renewal?

Set to be free agent in 2024. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

A dynamic, young winger with pace and great dribbling ability and the end product to back it up with, it is not hard to see Xavi would want him at Barcelona.

However, recent reports have suggested that Nico Williams might be leaning towards signing a new contract with Athletic Club at the moment.

But the same reports have claimed that in case the extension does not go through, Barcelona would be the youngster’s next best option.

With the Catalans laying the groundwork over a possible move, it will be interesting to see whether any of it pays off come 2024.