Matteo Moretto Transfer Column: Mikel Merino, Rafa Marin, Amadou Onana and Nico Williams | OneFootball

Matteo Moretto gives Football España exclusive information on the latest deals dominating the papers in Spain, as revealed in Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing.

Hold your horses on Mikel Merino transfer talk

I know that Atletico Madrid have been working on it for several weeks and he is a market opportunity, just like Barcelona. Real Sociedad are very pessimistic about his contract renewal and that is why they automatically put him on the market.

Atletico and Real Sociedad are already talking about a deal for Robin Le Normand, as we discussed earlier in the week, and I would not rule out that they have also touched on the subject of Merino, but until the Euros are over, in my opinion it is unlikely that there will be dramatic news about Merino.

Where are Barcelona on hunt for midfielder?

Let’s talk about Everton midfielder Amadou Onana. It is true that – we reported it originally here, some time ago – he would be the profile that Deco likes the most to fill the gaping hole left by Sergio Busquets last summer. For Deco, he is a very strong midfielder, one of the ideal skillsets to reinforce the Barcelona midfield which ended up with Andreas Christensen in there at the end of last season.

But the costs of any deal are difficult for Barcelona to finance, and then there is also competition from the Premier League. Clearly, they are not in a position to get into auctions with some of the Premier League’s richest as things stand.

Nico Williams is not a priority target for Chelsea despite missing out on Michael Olise

As of today, Chelsea considers the route that Nico Williams is taking to be unfeasible due the costs of any deal. His release clause at Atheltic Club, which as I revealed earlier this week is €58m, and the salary that Nico would ask for, are out of reach at the moment for Chelsea. Nico is just fine at Athletic, he has just renewed his contract and he is certainly in no rush, nor is there any pressure for him to change teams.

It is true that Barcelona are following him very closely, in Barcelona there are many that are pushing for his purchase, but economically it is a very difficult operation that would first involve a sale. Nico has many friends in the Barcelona dressing room, as we discussed early last week.

Real Madrid have given green light for Rafa Marin to move to Napoli

There were a flurry of reports about Rafa Marin moving to Napoli this week, and nothing has changed. They are simply sorting out some details related to the buyback figures and some issues related to the player’s contract, such as image rights.

It is minor details rather than key negotiating points. All of the parties involved have given the OK for the deal, including Real Madrid and Marin. It’s just a matter of time. Everything will be resolved during the next week.

Regarding other Napoli news, there are no updates about Alessandro Buongiorno, as I explained after the Euros everything will be clearer. The agreement with Torino is still missing, there’s no doubt about that. On the other side of the Marin deal, Leny Yoro continues to give top priority to Real Madrid, but I repeat that we have to wait and see how much Real Madrid will want to invest in the deal, and how much they want to pay Lille.

Matteo Moretto will be back with more transfer news in the coming days, providing exclusive information on the biggest stories in Spain and Italy.