Nico Williams said ‘yes’ to Joan Laporta for Barca move: Sport

As per new claims from Sport, Nico Williams had positive meetings with Joan Laporta in the summer on the possibility of joining Barcelona.

The Athletic Bilbao winger even told the Blaugrana president that he’d like the move and even said ‘yes’ to becoming their marquee signing.

Despite this, Barca’s financial issues stopped them from getting this deal done. They had to pay the entirety of his €60m release clause, which was a prominent amount.

Laporta had hoped that this could be achieved by finalizing the Nike sponsorship deal and potentially selling a major player like Ronald Araujo or Frenkie de Jong.

But none of those actually materialized. As a result, Barca did not have the financial capability of signing Williams this summer.

The club retains an interest in the 21-year-old, who has scored just one goal in five La Liga matches so far this season.

‘I liked the attitude a lot. Sometimes it’s not just about the money’: Javier Tebas on Nico Williams rejecting Barcelona