Barcelona ‘Hold Shock Agent Meeting’, Lamine Yamal Drops Huge Transfer Hint | OneFootball

Despite publicly dismissing the chances of a summer deal, Barcelona have held a meeting with the agent of Athletic Club winger Nico Williams over a blockbuster transfer, reports have revealed.

Williams has been a target for Barcelona for over 12 months but, after failing to strike a deal for his signsture last summer, president Joan Laporta admitted recently that the La Liga champions are considering other options—namely Liverpool’s Luis Díaz.

That appeared to be the end of Barcelona’s interest in Williams as Arsenal, Chelsea and Bayern Munich all explored a summer move for the Spain international, but Hansi Flick’s side have now re-entered the race.

As first revealed by SPORT, Williams’s agent recently flew to Barcelona for talks with sporting director Deco to discover whether the Blaugrana are firmly out of the race for his signature.

While Barcelona reaffirmed their interest, they made it clear they will only pursue a move for Williams if the finances are right. He has a release clause of €62 million ($71.6 million) but will also have to drop his wage demands to seal a move to Catalonia.

Foot Mercato claim Williams has demanded a contract worth €20 million ($23.1 million) from Bayern, but the winger’s desire to join Barcelona this summer has seen him propose an agreement for the same €12 million ($13.9 million) offered to him by the La Liga side last summer.

After news of the meeting between Barcelona and Williams emerged, Lamine Yamal took to social media to send the speculation into overdrive with a photo of him and the Athletic Club star, a close friend of his, celebrating together on the pitch.

Yamal is known to be keen to link up with international teammate Williams at club level, and Fabrizio Romano adds that the latter has firmly opened the door to making the move to Barcelona this summer after hesitating over a switch last year.

With all this going on, Athletic are known to be eager to offer Williams a new contract to raise his release clause and bring an end to the ongoing speculation, but the final decision will rest with the 22-year-old.

Clubs across Europe are ready to trigger his release clause, with Barcelona now exploring ways to fit such an expense into their summer transfer budget.

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