When did Lamine Yamal find out about Nico Williams’ decision to snub Barcelona? | OneFootball

Barcelona were dealt a huge blow to their transfer plans on Friday when Nico Williams opted to renew his contract with Athletic Club until 2035 despite having previously agreed to join the Catalans.

The 22-year-old winger’s move to Barça was understood to be very advanced as the La Liga champions were already making preparations to pay his €62 million release clause.

And, the possibility of the Spaniard arriving at the club had Lamine Yamal genuinely excited, who kept teasing the transfer with cryptic posts on his social media account.

After all, Lamine and Nico are great friends and have struck up a brilliant partnership in the Spanish national team.

Lamine learned it just like everyone else

Now, according to La Vanguardia, Lamine Yamal found out about Nico Williams’ decision to renew with Athletic Club, instead of joining FC Barcelona, while on holiday in Marbella.

It happens to be the final stop of the teenager’s vacation that began in Brazil and continued in Ibiza before he returns to Barcelona for the start of pre-season.

Lamine genuinely believed Nico was joining Barcelona. (Photo by ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/AFP via Getty Images)

Despite his close friendship with Nico, Lamine was not informed about the winger’s decision in advance. He learned the news at the same time as the rest of the public when Athletic Club made the announcement.

Lamine was one of the first to celebrate Nico’s move to reopen talks with Barça. “It is done, Nico is coming,” he told his inner circle and friends, as per the report.

As mentioned above, he even expressed his excitement with several Instagram stories where he celebrated goals they scored together for Spain.

As such, the announcement of Nico’s renewal with Athletic until 2035 caught the teenage wonderkid off guard, since he was convinced the winger was joining.

Lamine has not made any comments on his best friend’s U-turn. Instead, the La Masia sensation will now focus on returning to pre-season on July 13 – the day he turns 18 years old and signs his new contract until 2031 and is given the No. 10 shirt by Barcelona.