Barça Optimism Peaks with Nico Williams’ Green Light

Lluís Miguelsanz, SPORT’s deputy director, outlined the current situation on David Bernabeu’s program, expressing optimism within Barcelona about the possibility of a significant squad enhancement under Xavi Hernández’s guidance. “The Athletic Never Negotiates” “This is an operation that Barça considers relatively straightforward; it doesn’t require negotiations, as it involves a release clause and only needs formal approval from the player,” Miguelsanz explained. “There’s a lot of optimism regarding Nico Williams, but, logically, we need to adhere to the 1×1 rule and have sufficient salary cap space. It’s one thing to comply with the 1×1 rule and another to have the funds to bring in Nico Williams, whose release clause exceeds 50 million euros,” SPORT’s deputy director cautioned.

Bernabeu added that negotiations “are on track with the player and his agents.” The payment of the release clause is the only viable option because, as Miguelsanz pointed out, “the Athletic Club never negotiates, and Barça is aware of that. What’s left is the final approval from the player, and there’s a lot of optimism at Barça.”

Before the Euro? The main challenge is aligning the salary cap with a significant sale to accommodate Nico Williams. “If there’s no salary cap in early summer, we’ll need to see if the player will wait for Barça, opt to stay at Athletic Club, or go elsewhere because he won’t wait until August,” said Lluís Miguelsanz. He even hinted at the club’s optimism about swiftly concluding this signing: “If Barça can meet the conditions for this operation even before the Euros, should they sell a player, there’s optimism that it can be done,” he concluded.