Everything seemed to be going smoothy, Barcelona had already agreed personal terms with Williams after a conversation with sporting director Deco, it would take something drastic for this move not to happen.
As it happens, Barca’s financial situation is exactly that. Last season, they managed to sign Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig for a reported fee of €55 million with an additional €7 million in achievable add-ons. The move caused a myriad of problems for the Catalan giants.
The club continued their pursuit of Williams into the latter stages of the 2024 summer transfer window but finally came to terms with the fact they finally came to terms with the fact it was one or the other.
It was only because Andreas Christensen picked up a serious injury that they were able to register Olmo for the first half of the season, La Liga then revoked that registration when the centre-back returned to fitness.
Barcelona appealed but it was rejected by La Liga and the RFEF. Olmo was given temporary registration by the Consejo Superior de Deportes (CSD), Spain's top sports body, but that would later be revoked too.
As predicted, buoyed by their La Liga title win, Barcelona went back in for Williams, hoping to finally lure him to the Camp Nou and add one of Europe’s best young attacking talents to an already stacked squad.
Deco was vocal about their intent to sign Williams and the feeling was mutual. It had been reported that the winger had informed Athletic that he wanted to make the move this summer, but the Bilbao club couldn’t get their heads around how it would happen.
The club asked La Liga president Javier Tebas to look into how Barcelona could possibly make a deal happen and Tebas came to the conclusion that they couldn’t, saying: “As of today, Barca would not be able to register Nico Williams. The registration period for players started today, and right now I wouldn't be able to do it."
Nico Williams turns down blockbuster move to Barcelona
According to The Athletic’s brilliant Spanish football reporter Pol Ballús, it was the lack of written guarantee that Williams would be registered by Barcelona without issue, that saw the deal fall through.
When Olmo joined, he had a clause put into his contract stating that he could leave the club for free should they be unable to register him, meaning, he could have left Barcelona in January.
Williams wanted the same assurances, but Deco was unwilling to give them, instead promising his representatives that they would register him by the end of the summer rather than actually writing it down.
Still, the Barca board were confident the deal would go through, adamant that Williams’ determination to get it done would prove more than enough. Of course, they could not have been more wrong.
Out of nowhere, Williams signed a new deal with Athletic, keeping him at the club until 2035 and increasing his €58m release clause to a reported €87 million, all but making a move to Barcelona impossible.
Barcelona found out the same way everyone did, through social media. Joan Laporta was understood to be furious, vowing to never go in for Williams again, burning any other bridges along the way.
Deco and the rest of their recruitment staff will now move on to new targets, with Luis Diaz and Marcus Rashford both being discussed internally by the club, although neither of those transfers will come cheap either.
The likes of Arsenal, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea have all previously been linked with a move for Williams given his new release clause and high wage demands, any potential deal would be tricky.