WHY WILLIAMS DECIDED TO SNUB BARCELONA MOVE

Barcelona were hit by a bombshell this morning as Athletic Club announced Nico Williams had signed a contract extension at the club that runs until 2035.

It came at a time when the Spanish press were busy speculating when Barca would pay Nico’s release clause to bring him to the club in time for pre-season. Indeed Gerard Romero even claimed the deal was “150% done” on his Twitch channel.

So what changed and why did Willliams end up staying at Athletic Club?

There is plenty of speculation flying around, with Cadena SER and The Athletic both offering some insight into recent events between Barcelona and Williams.

The whole saga kicked off when Williams asked his agent Felix Tainta to meet Barcelona to discuss a possible summer transfer to Camp Nou.

Barcelona were told that Williams wanted to sign, that he was more mature this time around and a deal could be done on more favorable terms than last summer

The Catalans agreed personal terms with Williams and were ready to pay his release clause, with Athletic Club making it clear they would not negotiate on price.

However, Tainta then got involved again which is where it all started to go wrong. The agent came up with some payment terms that did not go down well with Barca and also wanted an exit clause included.

The clause would have meant that if Williams was not registered by August 20th, he could walk away for free and join another club. The player’s camp insisted on the clause and also warned Barca that Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Athletic Club were willing to offer Williams a suitable deal.

Barcelona weren’t happy with that, for obvious reasons, with Deco rejecting the request as he did not want to lose a player for free just weeks after splashing out €58 million to sign him.

And that seems to be where it all fell apart. Barca then gave Nico a final deadline to decide his future which passed without any response.

Tainta then met with Williams and his family to discuss the whole situation before the Athletic star filmed his renewal video on Thursday night in Bilbao after returning from holiday.

Barcelona learned via social media on Friday that it was all over and he was staying in Bilbao, leaving the Catalans shocked and angry by the whole saga.

2025-07-04T17:11:22Z