Ex-Barcelona star names the player who should be sold to fund Nico Williams move | OneFootball

A one-time member of the midfield ranks at La Liga giants Barcelona has this weekend urged his former club to do everything in their power to sign Nico Williams.

It is of course Spanish football’s worst-kept secret that the powers that be at Barcelona have identified wide-man Nico as a leading target to reinforce the attacking ranks of new head coach Hansi Flick.

The 21-year-old – in the midst of a stellar Euro 2024 campaign with Spain – is considered the ideal profile to join Lamine Yamal and Robert Lewandowski in a star-studded front-three in Catalunya’s capital.

And one individual of the opinion that Deco and co. have chosen exactly right in identifying Barca’s priority addition for next season comes in the form of José Vicente “Tente” Sánchez.

Tente, who captained the Blaugrana back in the 1980s, was drawn on his ex-club’s pursuit of Nico during an interview with “El 10 del Barça” (cited by Diario Sport) this weekend.

And the 67-year-old went on to respond:

“Before thinking about signing Nico Williams, Barça should be on a 1:1 basis. I think he’s a very good player, and I say it clearly, and he’s proving it alongside Lamine Yamal. They’re young, they’re cheeky, they’ve got quality… Nico could play in a top-level team without any problem. If there was the possibility of signing him, I would sign him.”

From here, Tente then went as far as to call for Raphinha to be sacrificed, if it means that Nico can be signed:

“I’ll say more: if there’s the possibility of Raphinha leaving and getting some money, I would sign Nico. If I sit down to watch a match in which both of them play, I’ll pay more attention to Nico than Raphinha.”

Conor Laird | GSFN