Barcelona 20-goal priority target leaning towards continuity at current club
With each passing hour, it appears that doubts are starting to creep up about Nico Williams’ transfer to FC Barcelona this summer.
A few days ago, it appeared that the transfer would be locked in, with Barça reportedly having agreed a five-year contract with the Athletic Club winger’s agent while being prepared to activate his €58 million exit clause.
But things seem to have changed recently as reports late on Sunday night suggested that Nico has decided to continue with the Basque club.
Nico leaning towards Athletic Club stay
Now, further corroborating those claims Jordi Carne and Toni Juanmarti of SPORT report that Nico Williams is now leaning towards staying put at Athletic Club over a transfer to Barcelona.
The Catalan club have been parallelly working on deals for Nico and Dani Olmo with the former having been the utmost priority.
However, over the past couple of days, doubts about his arrival have grown, prompting the Blaugrana to slowly shift their focus towards reaching an agreement with RB Leipzig for Olmo.
As per the report, Williams is more and more likely to continue under the orders of Ernesto Valverde for another season.
The desire of the 22-year-old speedster, who has 20 career goals for Athletic Club, was to wear the Azulgrana shirt. But in Bilbao, they are pressing him to continue, even with the temptation of an improved contract.
Barça do not consider the Athletic winger as lost, but the big question is to what extent the player will dare to “break away” from his current club. As such, with doubts growing, the club are also working to push the Olmo deal forward.