Last week, Barcelona had a oral deal with Nico Williams on a transfer deal. Accordingly, the Spanish striker will move to Camp Nou from next season for 60 million Euros. For Barca, they do not consider this cost as a barrier because they really want to own Williams in the squad.
Barca will not make the deal official before June 30. They want to pay after this time frame because it is the milestone to enter the next fiscal year, when Barca will be transferred under the 1:1 mechanism.
This summer, Bayern Munich emerged as a potential destination for Williams. The 22-year-old striker has been contacted by the "Gray Tigers" to reform his attack. Previously, in the summer of 2024, Arsenal, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool had bids to Athletic Bilbao but neither team was successful.
As for Barcelona, although they can recruit Nico Williams after June 30, how this striker's salary will be a big problem for Blaugrana. They have just temporarily escaped the financial crisis and are needing to stabilize in the coming time to avoid breaking up again.
Last week, La Liga president - Javier Tebas said that Barcelona has not yet complied with salary limit rules, meaning that the Catalan team will have to cut the salary fund or increase new revenue.
In terms of expertise, having Nico Williams will help Barca have another top-class dribbling machine, paired with Lamine Yamal to create a scary weapon like what they showed at EURO 2024.
Only Lamine Yamal has made more dribbles than Nico Williams in La Liga last season (average every 90 minutes). The Spaniard is only behind Manchester City's Jeremy Doku in this index in the Top 4 leagues in Europe.
The left winger position of Barca is currently held by Raphinha. The Brazilian striker is not a superb dribbler but has a very good finish and has just had the best season of his career ever. If Nico Williams arrives, Raphinha could switch to playing as a 'number 10', behind Robert Lewandowski. At that time, Barca will have a superb attacking quartet like Real Madrid, no longer a trio.
Last season, Nico Williams scored just six goals in La Liga, a very modest number compared to the 22-year-old star's potential. In Hansi Flick's system, if Williams arrives, he will become a pure left winger and make a breakthrough by cutting inside like Lamine Yamal.
In the current Barca squad, not any player can stick to the left wing well and make a breakthrough in handling situations like Williams. If he owns the 22-year-old striker, next season Blaugrana will be very scary when the attack reaches an unprecedented level of transformation since the era of the trio Messi - Suarez - Neymar.
