Joan Laporta statement sinks like a stone in Barcelona dressing room | OneFootball

Barcelona President Joan Laporta declared last week that the club had the money to sign Nico Williams from Athletic Club, with a €58m release clause required to do so. His words caused at stir in Bilbao, but also closer to home.

Athletic President Jon Uriarte criticised Barcelona without naming them for the pressure they were putting on Williams publicly, and Laporta did try to back down from his words somewhat, saying ‘we respect Athletic Club de Bilbao a lot’ this Monday. Yet Relevo say the Barcelona dressing room were equally unimpressed with his comments.

While Laporta can find the funds to sign Williams, Barcelona continue to tell Frenkie de Jong and Ronald Araujo that they cannot afford the terms that they want to sign a new deal. Equally captain Sergi Roberto is out of contract, and has not been bid farewell by Barcelona, as he waits to see if there is space in their salary limit. Along the same lines, Inigo Martinez and Vitor Roque still haven’t been registered for next season, supposedly due to Barcelona’s salary limit struggles.

Clearly, it is not compatible that they can afford to bring in and register Williams, while not being able to do the others. If Barcelona’s priority is to sign Williams, that would make sense, but neither can they claim poverty as an excuse in negotiations, and it is simply what they are willing to offer or not.