Barcelona is still staggering from Nico Williams' decision to reject a move – for the second summer in a row – to sign a new contract with Athletic Club. Club bosses in Catalonia have responded angrily to the snub, especially given that personal conditions were present with the 22-year-old.
It was taken for granted that Williams would move to Barcelona, whereby the player had athletic aware of his intention of becoming a member of the La Liga champions. But this feeling of expectation was filtered to the first team team, as reported by Diario ALS. It is also claimed that some players have expressed this via SMS messages to those who are close to them.
Sport has made a backup of this information and confirms that surprise and disappointment are the two leading emotions that Barcelona players have expressed about Williams' decision to reject the move.
The news can especially be disappointing for the number of Barcelona players with which Williams has a personal relationship. Lamine Yamal is generally considered one of his best friends in football, while he is also close to Spain -Teammates Pau Cubarsi, Pedri, Gavi and Fermin Lopez, among other things.
But according to the Catalan Daily, those relationships are and they will not be influenced by the decision of Williams to make U-turn about a move to Barcelona. The report also states that Lamine Yamal was informed about his friend's decision to stay in Bilbao prior to the announcement of Athletic on Friday morning.
The search has now started again for a new left wing player, now Barcelona has missed to sign Williams. Luis Diaz is supposed to be the best target of the club, while Marcus Rashford is also an option – but at this stage he is not taken into consideration by Sporting Director Deco.
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