Nico's renewal, step by step: know the details

Nico Williams' renewal for Athletic Club de Bilbao until 2035 made everything fly in the last hours, especially in the sports management of FC Barcelona, which before this, everything indicated that it was close to paying his termination clause, which until before his contract extension was 58 million plus 4 of CPI.

In this sense, according to 'Sport', the night of Thursday, July 3, was not just another night in Bilbao. Under total discretion, Athletic Club and Nico Williams' environment finished forging an agreement that already represents one of the most resounding outcomes of recent years, in terms of signings.

What until a few weeks ago seemed like an improbable scenario ended up taking shape in a matter of hours, shaking up the summer market and placing the 'rojiblanco' player at the center of the covers.

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Barça tried and Athletic waited

After the meeting of his agent, Felix Tainta, with Deco at the request of the player himself to offer himself to Barça on June 13, everything pointed to starting to unlock, although with a concern for Nico and his representative: the possibility of non-registration due to the issue of financial fair play.

In addition, signing Nico meant bringing him together with one of his best friends, Lamine Yamal. Very few duos like these would be in Europe, but as nothing is written in football, Athletic Club was patient and acted in a timely manner.

In this sense, 'the lions', according to 'Sport', had been working in total secret for weeks on a possible renewal for the '10' from Pamplona that was effectively sealed, despite the fact that everything seemed to indicate that he would end up leaving the club, as he would have expressed his desire to play for Barça.

For its part, the Catalan club would have assured Nico's agent that they would have no problems paying the termination clause. However, they did not guarantee registration. Added to this, the statements of the president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, about Barça having problems registering would end up blocking the way.

Athletic Club took advantage of Barcelona's fair play problems

Athletic took a step forward. Its president, Jon Uriarte, and the general director, Jon Berasategi, traveled to Madrid to maintain contact with the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and LaLiga and comment on their intention to rigorously study the economic operations of FC Barcelona.

The Bilbao team considered that Barcelona was not in a position to operate under the 1/1 rule, which allows teams to invest in signings the same amount they receive in the form of sales. In this way, Athletic Club would have demanded that LaLiga and the RFEF not allow the registration of the '10' (in case of signing for the Catalan team) while Barça did not operate under the regulations.

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Another move by Athletic was to ask Nico's agents to sit down and negotiate a contract extension, with the intention of making this move the star signing of the Basque club.

Although it was commented that Barcelona could pay the release clause this Friday or at the latest next week, the azulgrana club was still unable to guarantee the player's registration.

Given the lack of action from Barcelona, the 22-year-old ended up opting for the renewal offer from 'the lions' in the last hours.

Video and communication to Barça and Lamine

Apparently, the renewal video was recorded on the night of this Thursday (July 3). On the other hand, Athletic Club supposedly communicated institutionally to Barcelona the 8-year renewal of the player on the morning of this Friday, which disconcerted the culé board. All this happened before the official announcement on social networks.

Likewise, Nico himself would have communicated his decision to Lamine Yamal before everything became official. Before the contract extension, it expired in the summer of 2027.