La Liga president weighs in on Barcelona-Athletic Club tiff over Nico Williams – ‘Will have to comply with the regulations’ | OneFootball

Barcelona and Athletic Club are at a silent war over the Nico Williams saga. After all, the Catalans are close to signing the Basque superstar and Athletic Club are anything but pleased with the development.

At this point, they have done everything in their capacity to complicate the transfer but they crossed a limit earlier this week by meeting with La Liga representatives to express concern about Barcelona’s financial situation.

Tebas speaks on the case

Speaking to the media via Mundo Deportivo and clarifying the recent incidents in an interview, La Liga president Javier Tebas brought out the truth about the conversation Athletic Club had with him.

“Bilbao complained because Deco’s statement expressed his desire to sign the player,” he said, bringing out the intention behind the Basque club’s approach.

“According to FIFA regulations, he is in a protected period, and we have no authority to interfere with that,” he added.

Elaborating on the implications on Barcelona and what the club must be wary of, he said,

“What we will do, as we have always done, is that FC Barcelona will have to comply with the regulations in order to register players, whether it is Nico Williams, Haaland, Messi, whoever. And we will not change anything.”

Talk of the town. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Tebas also took an indirect dig towards the Athletic Club for releasing a public statement on the matter and how it was unnecessary.

“Athletic Club Bilbao doesn’t need to issue any statement. It’s our duty to clarify doubts about Financial Fair Play. We are transparent.”

“We don’t reveal the deep economic details of clubs, but it is known that there was a meeting of the Division Committee in February, in which the reasons for the salary caps were explained, and the situation of Barcelona was explained because we have the Olmo case,” he added on how Athletic Club knew of Barcelona’s situation.

Tebas also confirmed that Barcelona are still not in the 1:1 rule but that they are not far from reaching it.

“Barcelona doesn’t have a 1-1 rule, and I hope they achieve it as soon as possible. They already know what they need to do to be in the rule.”

“Bilbao also knows what Barcelona must do, because we were very transparent in February so that no one would question Financial Fair Play,” he concluded.