Barcelona still working on their original plan to sign Nico Williams – Report | OneFootball

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Nico Williams was the top transfer target for FC Barcelona in the last summer transfer window. The Blaugrana club tried their best to incorporate him in their team after seeing his performances in the UEFA EURO 2024, and especially the way he is developing chemistry with Lamine Yamal.

But their weak financial conditions kept the Catalans from getting their target, while Nico’s strong association with his current club also proved to be too big a barrier for Barcelona. Thus, the player announced that he would remain at the Basque club for this season well before the summer transfer window closed.

This inability to bring in Williams was seen as a clear sign of weakness of the Blaugrana club. However, according to SPORT, the events of the last summer transfer window have not changed Barcelona’s original plan for Nico Williams.

The report claims that Barcelona were originally planning to sign the winger in 2025 as that would have satisfied all the involved parties.

Athletic Club could have told their fans that they were able to retain the winger for another year. The player himself could have left with a clear conscience and leaving a significant amount of cash in his club’s coffers. Meanwhile, Barcelona would have gotten another year to reorganise their economy.

However, the Blaugranes’ plans changed after the UEFA EURO 2024, as they believed bringing in Nico this summer would be the perfect response to Real Madrid’s acquisition of Kylian Mbappe.

Thus, Laporta and Deco started working on this operation and were ready to get deeper into debt to be able to get Olmo and Nico this summer. However, the Basque winger could not withstand the pressure that was exerted on him from his current club, and took advantage of the issue of registration to break down the operation.

But despite this episode, the original plan is still alive. Nico has not promised more than one more season to Athletic Club fans and is not going to renew. His relationship with Barcelona might have deteriorated a bit this summer, but that is not a problem that cannot be solved with the passage of time.