Barcelona blame Nico Williams’ agent for ‘derailing a closed deal’ – report | OneFootball

Nico Williams has renewed his contract with Athletic Club at a moment when it seemed he was set to wear the FC Barcelona shirt next season.

The Basque club announced the deal on Friday morning – the day on which it was initially suggested that Barça would activate Nico’s €62 million release clause.

Barcelona’s reaction to Nico Williams’ snub

Now, according to Santi Ovalle on Carrusel, Barcelona’s board blames Nico Williams’ agent, Felix Tainta, for ‘derailing a deal that was closed’.

The Catalans maintain that it was Nico himself who showed the desire to join the club. After weeks of negotiation, both the player and Barcelona had reached a full agreement regarding salary and contract length.

The forward had even informed Athletic of his intention to join the La Liga champions. At that point, the player’s agent reportedly made a request last week: “He asked us for a clause to leave on a free transfer.”

Set to continue at Athletic Club. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

This was a contract detail that Joan Laporta’s board refused to accept. “We could not accept that. He also asked for a specific registration date in July,” the club added.

Unacceptable demands

Barcelona considered these demands unacceptable. As a result, they made it clear in recent days that the terms were already agreed and that it was up to the player to take or leave the offer.

Barcelona believe they will soon meet the requirements to return to the 1:1 Financial Fair Play rule. However, after the agent’s latest demands, sporting director Deco began to suspect the outcome would not be as expected.

As such, the Barça higher-ups reiterate that the player’s representative led to the collapse of the deal.

“We believe it was the agent who derailed a done deal, because he defends the interests of Athletic Club, since he has several players there and stands to lose business,” sources at the Catalan club said.