‘Baffled’ Barcelona refuse to give up on €62 million priority transfer target

The Nico Williams transfer saga continues to take one dramatic turn after the other as Barcelona continue to battle for the Athletic Club winger’s signing.

Over the weekend, reports emerged claiming that Nico had informed Barcelona that he wanted to join the club and that the Blaugrana would start making arrangements for the transfer.

However, earlier today, Athletic Club dropped a major hint about Nico Williams’ continuity at the club by handing him the No. 10 jersey, with the winger even admitting that he hoped to make history with that shirt.

Barcelona ‘baffled’ but not giving up

Now, according to SPORT, the video of Nico Williams unveiling his new Athletic Club shirt has left Barcelona ‘baffled’, but they believe the player still wants to sign and refuse to give up.

The Blaugrana had very optimistic information about the player at the weekend and were preparing to close the deal. As such, the Barça leadership were upset about the video, given that they saw his signing as a done deal.

The information that the Catalans had was that the UEFA Euro 2024 winner wanted to join, no matter what.

In order to formalise the whole thing, Barça needed to find the €62 million, something that they already have financed and prepared, and also to find salary space so that he could be registered.

Given the optimism of his arrival, Deco got down to work to lighten the squad, obtain the necessary income and free up space on the wage bill – Ansu Fati and Vitor Roque were told to find new clubs and Clement Lenglet’s exit was also accelerated.

The Blaugrana club do not rule out anything because they continued to work on the deal even after the images of Nico starting to train with Athletic Club, which could also happen now.

But it is also true that this confidence in the operation has been seriously shaken. And as such, alternatives are also being looked at, but without closing the doors entirely on Nico.