A request and a marked date: the key for Nico Williams to arrive at Barça

Published New:28/06/2025 - 03:26h

Updated New:28/06/2025 - 18:46h

Nico Williams wants to close his arrival to Barça soon and would have made a key request for the club to speed up the signing

The arrival of Nico Williams to FC Barcelona seems to be imminent. The left winger from Pamplona has already expressed to Athletic Club his desire to wear the Blaugrana jersey, and the culé team has shown to be in a position to disburse the termination clause —stipulated at €58M plus CPI— to definitively finalize a move that, for the moment, gives the impression of only having been slowed down by the intervention of the Basque team and their desire to retain their star.

An idea that, in principle, does not seem too likely to happen, since the youngest of the Williams brothers seems determined to, this time, board the train bound for Barcelona, having already established a personal agreement with the Barcelona team. An agreement in which it was revealed that he would not have set exaggerated conditions, although it is said that he made clear a specific request.

Key date: July 9, the deadline to close his incorporation

According to reports from the newspaper SPORT, the only request that Nico Williams could have put on the table is that the club give speed to finalize the operation as soon as possible. In this sense, the aforementioned source asserts that the left winger from Pamplona apparently expects the operation to be finalized before July 9, the date on which the Basque team starts its 2025/26 pre-season.

The '17' of 'La Roja' would like to avoid joining the discipline of Athletic Club in order to avoid any pressure or 'soap opera' around his name. That could mean a bad time for the youngest of the Williams brothers, seeing the 'Lions' willing to make any move to retain their star.

Nico Williams in the match between Athletic Club and Real Valladolid in LaLiga EA Sports 2024/25

Barcelona moves: clause, salary limit and 1:1 rule

FC Barcelona, the team that was reported to be in a position to pay the termination clause between July 1 and 2, would have understood this, so they have set to work to try to close the incorporation within the stipulated period. In turn, it seeks to have full guarantees for its registration, thus avoiding any inconvenience that may complicate its arrival to Can Barça.

For this, the team from Barcelona must enter the 1:1 rule. A condition that —according to Javier Tebas, president of LaLiga, and Joan Laporta himself, president of the club— has not yet been met.

However, Barcelona seems to be on track to do so, making key moves such as the departure of Clément Lenglet and the imminent departure of Ansu Fati, which will generate margin in the salary limit. Even so, other operations are not ruled out at the level of sales that may help the Barcelona team to address this issue, as well as the economic 'pinches' received by players who transferred to other teams, keeping percentages of future sales, and that have recently reported benefits.