Nico Williams transfer drama: All change after ‘COMPLETE SURPRISE’ at Barcelona

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 30 Jun 2025 16:30 BST
• 4 min read

News

Nico Williams’ future seemed to be with Barcelona, but following a fresh request from the player’s agent, the door has been opened for Arsenal or Chelsea to reignite their interest in the Spain winger.

With a verbal agreement struck over a contract and Nico having made a strong push to make it clear with Athletic Club that he wants to leave, his transfer to Barca seemed almost a formality.

Current ETV

Nico Williams

M (L)

Athletic

Nico Williams

M (L)

Athletic

€70.6M

ETV Range

€63.5M - €77.7M

View full profile

The one sticking point has been Barcelona’s financial position. Initially, there were concerns that the Blaugrana could not activate the player’s release clause of €58 million, which needs paid in one lump sum.

But now a further problem has emerged causing the deal to stall in recent days, Mundo Deportivo reports.

“As soon as the verbal agreement began to be written down in the respective contracts, the negotiations came to a complete standstill due to the high demands of the forward’s agent, which came as a complete surprise to Barca,” it states.

Nico Williams is showing a “high level of demand” when it comes to receiving an assurance that his registration will be completed without a problem.

Barcelona have already had issues in this regard last season. Dani Olmo and Pau Vitor were both registered in controversial circumstances, and the Spain wingers does not want a similar issue. Despite assurances from the club, this has not been enough to convince Nico.

Furthermore, pressure is being exerted by Athletic. The Bilbao side are campaigning for La Liga to clarify their position on the Barca’s capacity to register players and have criticised the Catalans’ sporting director Deco.

Door opened for Barcelona’s rivals

Barcelona’s issues could have far-reaching implications, potentially inviting Chelsea and Arsenal back into the conversation regarding Nico.

The Blues appear less likely to target the 22-year-old given that they are close to signing Jamie Gittens and Joao Pedro, but Arsenal have not made any progress on adding an attacking midfielder to their ranks and may take another look at the situation.

Bayern Munich will definitely be involved. Although they were taking a back seat while Barcelona conducted talks, the Bundesliga champions had been hoping for this scenario to develop.

What once appeared to be a transfer formality now appears to have some distance left to run.

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