Barcelona set to miss out on €30 million-rated winger as player nears renewal with current club

Nico Williams of Athletic Club has been linked heavily with a summer move to FC Barcelona, as his contract with the Basque outfit expires at the end of the season.

In fact, some reports already suggested earlier this month that the 21-year-old Spanish international, whose market value stands at €30 million, had reached a total agreement with the Blaugrana over a free transfer in 2024.

However, as per the latest updates, that does not appear to be the case and Barça could very well miss out on the services of Nico Williams.

Nico in advanced talks over renewal

Indeed, Ivan San Antonio of SPORT is reporting that Barcelona are all set to lose their hopes of signing Nico Williams for free next year as the winger is very close to renewing his contract at Athletic Club.

While negotiations have not been very easy, the Basque club are now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and are in advanced talks over the youngster’s new contract.

The idea is to close the operation and announce it before January 1 so that Nico is unable to enter into negotiations with any other club over a free transfer in the summer.

The report suggests that the winger’s mother, Maria Arthuer, who is closely linked with Athletic Club, and his brother, Inaki Williams, who plays for Los Leones have managed to convince the youngster to stick around at San Mames.

Williams’ agent, Felix Tainta, also has good relations with Athletic Club and the two parties have silently worked on a renewal agreement.

Affordable release clause

The report highlights that unlike his brother, Nico wishes to test himself outside Athletic Club in the future.

As such, the new contract agreement is likely to be a fairly short one, possibly for three years, and will contain a release clause that would be affordable for big clubs across Europe.

Nico’s brother, Inaki, has a release clause worth €135 million in his contract at Athletic Club. But, the youngster will likely have a lower termination clause worth around €40-50 million.

That, however, could put him out of Barcelona’s reach as they do not consider spending such a sum on Nico and would have only preferred his signing on a free transfer.

Player valuation in title obtained from transfermarkt.com on date of publication.