Well, the new transfer part of FC Barcelona’s board has been exposed over the past week after giving Nico Williams solo focus in their transfer market has resulted in ending the first half of the transfer window essentially empty handed, Pau Victor their only signing, and without any departures to add to that.
Back in and around July 19th, we saw reports coming out all over Barcelona that the club were finally ready to pay the release clause of Nico Williams and were just waiting for the green light to get a deal done. Guess what? It’s July 30th. No green light. Nico is still an Athletic Club player, and if recent reports are to be believed, there is a good chance he ends up staying at Bilbao, with a new contract that has a 100m release clause. However, for nearly the last two weeks, Barcelona fans have been embroiled in a Lebron James-esque “decision” from a 22-year old with just over 120 senior club appearances. However, what if Nico Williams hasn’t believed in his own hype, and is simply a victim of the same thing that happened to his brother, Inaki – incredible pressure from his family and an entire region of Spain to stay, when he just wants to play football for the club he dreams of and with his best friend, Lamine Yamal?
The Basque region is a region incredibly proud of their roots, with one of their premier football clubs, Athletic Bilbao, holding to this day a Basque-only transfer policy. Everything suggests that they hate losing major parts of their heritage, with players such as Unai Simon, Mikel Oyarzabal and Inaki Williams having stayed at their clubs for their whole careers despite much interest from elsewhere. Well, now you can probably add Nico Williams to that list, with his contract extension with Bilbao likely. However, the details are clouded on if he truly wants to go to Barca or not, with much pressure from family and people around the club to stay in recent days.
While I don’t have a problem with players wanting to stay loyal, I do have a problem with players keeping clubs on edge for weeks at a time with their transfer decisions. Surely it can’t be too much more complicated than “If you want to go to Barca, go there”. The saga has been going on for so long that many Barca fans who were on the edge of their seats and really hoping Nico came don’t even care anymore and simply want an end to the saga as soon as possible, so Barcelona can work on other deals, such as the ones for Dani Olmo and a fullback/holding midfielder.
The reality is that we’re nearly at August, and Barcelona have done pretty much zero business. A club known for finishing business early, and not panic-buying, may have to be forced into it. Thanks to Nico Williams’ indecisiveness, the Blaugrana are actually very lucky that Olmo is still available to sign, as well as a few other potential left-wingers to replace Nico Williams if he ends up staying. This isn’t even the first time he’s stuck two fingers up at us either, as he could have signed here for free this summer, but instead decided to extend with Bilbao, and had a 50 million euro release fee.
Thankfully, Joan Laporta has made clear to Nico that if he wants to sign for Barca, it’s now-or-never. The Barcelona train will pass only this one time, and it’s up to him whether he wants to hop aboard. Barcelona have also been looking at alternatives to the 22-year old, none of which would excite me as much as his signing, but he’s our #1 target for a reason. Nico would have become our starting winger, making an elite combination with Lamine Yamal, that could have held up for a decade or more, yet, I’m more pessimistic on this deal now than optimistic.
The question in my mind is whether he’s a victim of that aforementioned Basque pride – or even his family wanting him to stay so they can keep having special treatment at Bilbao games, or whether he truly is a believer of his own hype and really thinks he deserves a saga like this. Either way, I remember another Barcelona target who had his own “decision” saga and ended up staying. Antoine Griezmann. So, I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over this one, no matter what he says. Like many fans, I just want Nico to decide so Deco and Barca can get on with their summer. Oh, and don’t halt all other business for a single saga again. That doesn’t work, as we’ve seen. I’m Jim James, until next time.