Report reveals Barcelona message that proved to be the killing blow in Nico Williams deal | OneFootball

Despite having one of the most entertaining and threatening attacks in the last season, FC Barcelona are still looking to further reinforce this area of their team this summer by adding a new winger.

The primary target of the Catalan club a few weeks ago was once again the Athletic Club forward Nico Williams. However, the Spaniard ended up renewing his contract with the Basque club for ten years, thus putting an end to any chances of joining the Blaugrana club this summer.

Some versions of how this operation ended in such a failure for Barcelona claim that Nico was reluctant to join them without his registration with La Liga being guaranteed. The Catalans gave every assurance to the player that he would be registered, but the winger wanted more concrete guarantees.

Barcelona fed up with Felix Tainta

(Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

Thus, an operation that looked quite easy in the beginning, after the meeting between Nico’s agent, Felix Tainta, and Deco, gradually became complicated and ultimately ended in failure.

A few weeks after the end of this operation, SPORT has published a story that reveals the factor that ultimately resulted in the Spaniard’s decision to renew with the Basque club.

As negotiations continued to become tangled between Deco and Tainta, Barcelona understood that it was the agent whose position was holding up progress, and the Catalans decided to bypass Tainta to directly communicate with Nico.

Barcelona’s suggestion caused the end of the Nico Williams operation

In a WhatsApp message, the Blaugranes told the winger to replace Tainta with either Jorge Mendes or Pini Zahavi.

The Catalans have a good working relationship with these two agents, as the former represents players like Lamine Yamal, Ansu Fati, Alejandro Balde, etc., while the latter represents Robert Lewandowski, Hansi Flick. Furthermore, Frenkie de Jong is also expected to appoint Zahavi soon.

However, the Williams family has a very good and close relationship with Tainta, and the whole family was outraged at this suggestion from Barcelona.

This made the player end the operation, as he closed his renewal with Athletic Club in one afternoon, and recorded his renewal video that same night, while his renewal was officially announced the next day.