Good day, everyone, and welcome to my blog. It is no news that the deal between FC Barcelona and Nico Williams has broken down as the Spanish winger renewed his contract with Athletic Bilbao until 2035, which is a ten-year deal with his release clause now reaching 90-100 million euros. This transfer saga was just a slap to Barcelona's faces and I am equally pissed with the club and Nico Williams. At first, FC Barcelona's main target this summer was to push for Liverpool's winger Luis Diaz as they had no intentions of going for Nico Williams because of what happened last summer window.
It was clear from Deco that the Barcelona train was closed and that the club would not be going for the player again. This summer, Nico Williams initiated the contacts with Barcelona through his agent, as he wanted the move to the club and had no doubts about playing for Barcelona this summer. Barcelona was at first reluctant, and as they were exploring their options, because Luis Diaz was the main target for the club this summer, but eventually talks started. The player even agreed to take a pay cut, which was 6-7 million euros net a year.
Bayern Munich was speaking with his agent and even Arsenal was in the picture, but the player only wanted the move to Barcelona. The deal was sealed, and all that was left was to pay the release clause, which was supposed to happen last week. There was pressure from the Athletic Club, who went to have a meeting with La Liga about Barcelona's inability to register players, which was none of their business in the first place. It was a tough atmosphere surrounding the deal, but there were multiple assurances that Nico Williams will sign for the club as Barcelona just have to pay the release clause.
News began to spread that Nico Williams wants guarantees in writing that he will be registered by the end of July, and if that doesn't happen, then the player will be considered a free agent, which means the club will have to pay all his wages for the five-year deal, but Barcelona was not willing to accept these terms, and this was the turning point in the deal. Barcelona was waiting for the final decision from Nico Williams' camp, and they got it on the internet with Nico Williams' renewal with Athletic Bilbao.
This is the second time in a row that Nico Williams has rejected FC Barcelona, and what makes this second time worse is that he was the one who initiated the contacts and then backed down from the deal. This just set the club back because he was not in their plans at the start of the summer and I am pretty sure now that the door is closed permanently between Nico Williams and Barcelona because there is no way Barcelona will be paying that 90 million release clause on his contract.
Barcelona are back to base as they will be going in for Luis Diaz this summer even though Liverpool has said they are not willing to listen to any offer for the Colombian player. So, guys, that will be all for now, as there is still more to come surrounding Luis Diaz, Rashford and what Barcelona plans to do in the coming weeks. Thanks for stopping by and have a good day.