Barcelona will close Saga for a year by signing Nico Williams from Athletic Club, with a deal that will be completed next week. And the Catalans adhere to this idea, even though they have made a few hiccups in recent days.
Barcelona was beaten by Williams last summer, with the 22-year-old to stay in Athletic Club on that occasion. But he is now much more open to participation, and with personal conditions that have already been agreed, a deal can be concluded as soon as the La Liga champions pay his release clause.
Those within Can Barca had hoped to negotiate a deal with Athletic to pay Williams' release clause in installments, but that idea was completely closed by the Basque club. As such, Barcelona has to pay € 62 million (release clause of € 58 million, € 4 million CPI) as a one-off payment, but despite their well-documented financial misery, they say it can be done.
Despite the fact that he had agreed personal conditions, it was reported earlier this weekend that Williams Barcelona had asked to guarantee that he would be registered with La Liga, so that he can play without problems during the 2025-26 season. And according to the sport they have done that, which means that there will be no pushback from the Spain International.
Barcelona will hope a repeat of last season's debacle involving Dani Olmo and Pau Victor, but on this occasion they have countless players who can be moved to guarantee their return to the 1: 1 rule of La Liga. Ansu Fati will leave for Monaco next week, while Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Andreas Christensen, Oriol Romeu, Pablo Torre and Pau Victor have also been identified as candidates to leave.
It seems that Williams will join Barcelona, despite the strong attempts by Athletic to block a deal. There is still work to do, but things seem to be moving in the right direction.