Nico failed to transfer to Barcelona, and The Athletic wrote an article detailing the inside story of the failure of Nico's deal. The main reason is that Deco does not agree to the term "free terminating if registration fails."
TA in-depth report↓
Nico Williams' transfer to Barcelona failed: The complete inside story
Nico Williams' transfer to Barcelona failed because the players hope to add a termination clause to the contract in case the club cannot register for him, and Barcelona refused the request.
Nico's agent made the request when key personal terms have been agreed verbally, and Barcelona sports director Deco said the club would not approve the clause, and the deal failed. But in fact, Olmo and others had this clause before the transfer.
Nico's team hopes to be assured that Barcelona can successfully register for him on August 20 at the latest, so that Nico is qualified to play. In recent years, it has often been difficult for Barcelona to complete the registration of new players before the start of the new season in time. Last season, Ormo's registration was finally completed by court rulings.
This disagreement is just one of several twists in this protracted transfer legend, but it greatly exacerbated the already tense relationship between Barcelona and Biba. At the same time, Nico himself was close to a transfer in the negotiations, and although everything ended up shattering, he was also personally attacked and criticized for this.
When Biba officially announced that Nico decided to renew a new 10-year contract with Biba, with a higher termination fee, several of the Barcelona first-team players were shocked, some of whom were Nico's best friends. Barcelona executives also learned about the news through social media, and the video of Biba's announcement of the deal was filmed with Nico in a hurry the night before.
This is a truly dramatic twist that seems to be without warning to many.
Here, based on information from Biba and Barcelona, as well as anonymous people close to the players, we will reveal the complete inside story behind the incident.
Barcelona launched a purchase of Nico as early as last summer. Biba was dissatisfied with his interest.
Nico had a termination fee of 58 million euros in his contract at that time. Therefore, after performing well in the European Cup in Spain, there will definitely be suitors. But Biba couldn't understand why Barcelona, who was deeply in financial difficulties, had the ability to buy their most precious stars.
End of the day, Nico stayed in Biba. Barcelona signed Ormo from Leipzig for €60 million. The complex problems encountered in completing the registration for Ormo have played a key role in what happened between Nico and Barcelona this week.
Last season, the reason why Olmo was able to register and qualify for the game before the start of La Liga was because Barcelona took advantage of a loophole in the rules.
As Barcelona's salary expenditure exceeded the allowable range, the competition management agency restricted the registration of their new players.
However, Barcelona managed to complete registration for Olmo, based on a rule that allows clubs to apply for substitutes for injured players. When Christensen determined that the injury was missing, they temporarily replaced him with Olmo's registration.
The emergency measures were only effective before January, and then there was a dramatic scene. When Christensen returned to the team due to injury, Barcelona still violated La Liga salary rules, and La Liga canceled Olmo's registration qualification.
An unprecedented move followed. Barcelona reversed the situation through the intervention of the Spanish government. This is not ignored by Biba.
On January 8, Biba and Barcelona will face off in the Spanish Super Cup semi-finals in Saudi Arabia. At this moment, Laporta and his team were confirmed: Olmo is qualified to play.
Watching Laporta boasting and celebrating the verdict in the box during the game was deeply imprinted in the minds of several members of the Biba Board of Directors.
When Olmo joined Barcelona, a clause was added to his contract: If Barcelona fails to register for it, he can choose to leave the team freely. When he was disqualified by La Liga in early January, he could have decided to activate the clause and leave with zero transfer fees.
But Olmo decided to stay, and eventually Barcelona was able to re-incorporate him into the roster. Olmo is now successfully registered and his contract will last until 2030 due to a ruling made by the Supreme Sports Council of Spain.
Other player contracts signed by Barcelona in recent years also include similar terms. These include Gundogan, who joined not long before Olmo signed in 2024, and Conde, who came from Sevilla in 2022.
Since 2022, Barcelona's summer transfer window has been plagued by new players registration issues. La Liga chairman Tebas said on Tuesday that Barcelona has not complied with spending rules. Newly signed player Joan Garcia has not completed registration yet.
It is in this context that we return to Nico's question.
In early June, Barcelona contacted Liverpool to discuss signing Louis Dias. Despite the rejection, the news of the potential transfer prompted Nico's team to contact Barcelona and ask whether the other party would rather discuss signing him.
Barcelona agreed to list Nico as the number one signing target, as Barcelona executives, including Chairman Laporta, believe that Nico, 22, showed a modest gesture in the move. Previously, Laporta had opposed another attempt to sign Nico because he believed that Nico did not show enough commitment when Barcelona expressed strong interest last summer.
On June 13, Nico's agent met with Barcelona officials to convey his intention to join, provided that the registration is guaranteed. Ten days later, Deco said in an interview with the Pioneer that they are interested in Nico and will work hard to complete the signing.
On June 23, Nico himself informed Biba that he planned to join Barcelona. In response, Biba issued a club statement on June 26, expressing dissatisfaction with Barcelona officials' public talks about signing his players. The statement details the process of Biba Chairman Uriat meeting with La Liga President Tebas, and requires the competition management agency to closely review whether Barcelona complies with the salary limit rules. The statement reads: "Biba Club thanks La Liga for the positive attitude and transparency shown in the meeting held yesterday. "The discussion topics include Barcelona's ability to sign new players. Biba has justified concern after sports director Deko publicly admitted that they will try to sign a player from our contract to 2027. ”
Barcelona was quite dissatisfied with this. Laporta spoke at a public event that week, urging Biba to "be careful, focus on his own affairs, and not interfere with others."
In this tense atmosphere, Nico's negotiations with Barcelona are still continuing.
According to Barcelona sources, a one-time payment of 58 million euros in termination is not an obstacle. They said that the funds are ready, but the fee will not be paid after the Spanish fiscal year deadline, June 30.
Barcelona plans to make Nico's signing Entering the budget for next season, but before paying the termination fee, they need full authorization from the players. In Spain, the process for paying the termination fee requires the relevant players or their representatives to deposit the money into the headquarters of La Liga.
Nico has continued negotiations with Barcelona to reach this point in the past week, but ultimately failed due to the termination clause. The player camp insists on joining the clause and emphasizes that there are other clubs, such as Bayern Munich, Arsenal and Biba clubs, are willing to provide appropriate contracts.
Deco rejected this request. He promised Nico's representatives to take his As a credit guarantee, Nico will successfully register before the summer window is closed, but he is unwilling to take risks to avoid the disaster of free loss of 58 million euros of assets.
People familiar with the matter revealed that Deco was suffering in the registration storm of Ormo last season and he was unwilling to repeat the same mistakes in Nico's deal. In addition, Barcelona believes that they have shown full sincerity in their negotiations with Nico after their experience last summer.
However, until Wednesday night local time, members of the Barcelona board of directors were confident that the deal would reach They believed that Nico's willingness to join was enough to resolve the differences in the discussion.
But they were wrong. On Thursday night local time, Nico returned to Bilbao after his holiday. He shot the official video there. Later in the night, the club headed to the city's Williams Brothers mural wall. Nico's portrait has been defiled three times in the past three weeks, and Biba has been repaired each time. In the shooting, Nico wrote "WIN" on a wall that was graffitied not long ago with insulting words, not long ago. 2035”. To avoid leaking rumors before the official announcement, Biba cleared the graffiti immediately after the filming was completed.
It was through this video on social media that Barcelona executives learned about Nico's decision to stay in the team. The same is true for most players in the club. Some players cannot understand what happened because they have long determined that Nico's joining has been a foregone conclusion, and have even discussed the jersey number he may choose.
For months, Biba has been testing Nico's intention to renew his contract. With this new contract, he will become the highest-paid player in the club's history, tax The annual salary will be about 10 million euros later. This is much higher than the quote from Barcelona, and Biba has a unique advantage in this regard. The Basque Country, especially Biscay, which is capitalized by Bilbao, enforces special rules on the taxation of football players. Since the local government determines that athletes have a career shorter than ordinary practitioners, players can enjoy preferential tax rates. Romeu, former vice president of finance at Barcelona, said in an interview with RAC1 last week: "Comparing the tax rules between the two places, Nico will have a salary cost of 40% for Barcelona. ”
But now, Nico's transfer legend has come to an end, and Barcelona must consider the next plan. Club executives expect they will return to the original left winger signing plan: discuss Dias and Rashford.
Dias is Deco's first choice and will definitely become the number one target. Although many links, including financial factors, will be difficult.
Rashford is a more economical choice, and Manchester United is seeking to sell 27-year-old Rashford. He himself also tends to leave England, and Barcelona believes that he is willing to join the loan with a salary cut.
In any case, Barcelona is expected to make major moves in the near future. After this setback, the club urgently needs to save the situation.
HelpsGames