Athletic Club starting to believe Nico Williams will join Barcelona

In the last few days, Barcelona have established Nico Williams as their leading target for the left wing position in Hansi Flick’s squad. They tried to sign him last summer, but on this occasion, a deal appears much more likely to happen, especially considering that personal terms have already been agreed.

Williams has attracted significant interest in recent months, but one by one, clubs are moving on. Chelsea and Arsenal have cooled their pursuit, while Bayern Munich have seen a recent approach turned down by the Spain international, who has set his sights on joining the La Liga champions.

While this has been going on, Athletic Club have been onlookers. They can do little to stop Williams leaving if his release clause is activated, although they are hoping to convince him to remain at San Mames.

Athletic Club losing hope that Nico Williams will stay

But these efforts look to be in vain, and Sport have now reported that Athletic are starting to lose hope that Williams will remain at the club beyond the end of the summer transfer window. Despite this, they are prepared to make it as difficult as possible for Barcelona to get a deal done, having taken the stance of demanding the 22-year-old’s full release clause as a one-off payment.

Athletic had not expected Williams to be so desperate to join Barcelona, hence their pessimism. But they still have the ball in their court, with the Catalans only being able to sign him if they €62m (€58m release clause, €4m towards CPI).

It remains to be seen how the situation with Williams plays out over the course of the summer. Athletic had also looked like losing their player 12 months ago, but on that occasion, he stayed. As such, they can still have hope of a similar outcome.