Barça's priority target: Deco confirms it!

While half of Europe dreams of signing the most explosive winger of the European Championship, in Barcelona they are already clear: Nico Williams fits like a glove. Deco breaks the silence and confirms what was an open secret: Barça is serious.

Deco, sporting director of FC Barcelona, has confirmed in an interview with La Vanguardia that the club is actively working to incorporate Nico Williams this summer. “If the circumstances allow, we will try”, he assures. It is not a passing whim: the Athletic winger was already in the culé orbit last year, but this time, everything indicates that the operation is in an advanced stage.

Nico Williams and the void on the left wing

“We need to reinforce the left wing”, Deco admits bluntly. With Ferran Torres converted to striker and only Lamine Yamal and Raphinha as pure wingers, Barça is looking for real solutions, not patches. In that context, Nico emerges as the ideal profile: young, unbalancing, and with a not minor emotional bond, his close friendship with Lamine.

But Deco makes it clear that this is not a club of friends. “We come here to work and win. It's good that they get along, but what counts is attitude and talent.” And both are abundant in the case of Nico.

Clear conditions and clause on the table

Regarding the negotiations, the blaugrana sporting director was transparent: they have already met with Williams' agent and know his conditions. “He has a clause”, Deco recalled, implying that if Barça gets enough financial muscle to face the operation, there will be no turning back.

Recovered illusion and looking to the future

“Nico wants to come”, Deco repeated as if launching a promise to the wind. And he is not the only one. The club is experiencing a stage of planned renovation, betting on talents like Joan Garcia in goal, while managing a future with or without Ter Stegen. “We have to decide before it's too late”, he says with a mixture of pragmatism and strategic vision.

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What about the rest of the signings?

Barça is not planning a revolution. If Nico Williams arrives, there will be no more signings of that level, except for unexpected movements. In parallel, names like Ansu Fati could leave on loan, and players like Araújo or De Jong continue to be pillars, despite the speculations.

A new Barça under construction

Deco insists: “This Barça has restored the illusion”. But illusion, like gunpowder, needs a spark. And Nico Williams seems to be just that: a spark capable of igniting a project that dreams, again, of competing head-to-head in Europe. Of course, first, you have to pay the clause. Magic, after all, also has its price.