{"id":90409,"date":"2025-07-25T04:09:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T04:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/90409\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T04:09:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T04:09:09","slug":"barcelona-president-sheds-light-on-failed-nico-williams-transfer-there-was-a-big-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/90409\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona president sheds light on failed Nico Williams transfer – ‘There was a big difference…’"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a recent interview with Mundo Deportivo<\/a>, Barcelona president Joan Laporta talked about various issues that have engulfed the club this summer.<\/p>\n

Laporta talked about the fine from UEFA, the delayed Camp Nou project and even the European Super League.<\/p>\n

However, the Bar\u00e7a president also talked about the failed operation to sign Nico Williams, who ended up renewing his contract at Athletic Club.<\/p>\n

Laporta on Barcelona\u2019s failed Nico Williams pursuit<\/p>\n

Laporta explained that signing a new forward was always going to be a complicated process for Barcelona this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a more complicated area than the goalkeeping position due to the opinions coming from all sides. There were several options, and I\u2019m very happy because we ended up getting the option I liked the most,\u201d<\/strong> he said. <\/p>\n

The Barcelona president admitted the club were interested in Luis Diaz, but pointed out how Nico Williams suddenly entered the picture.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s true that I also liked Luis Diaz, a very complete player, but due to his circumstances, with Liverpool very entrenched, it was complicated, although I appreciate the player who always wanted to come,\u201d <\/strong>he said. <\/p>\n

\"JoanJoan Laporta was not too happy to miss out on Nico (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Nico Williams situation also happened. And given that Luis\u2019 situation was complicated and that we were in the process of negotiating with Rashford, Nico\u2019s agent came to me offering the possibility of signing him,\u201d<\/strong> he added.<\/p>\n

Laporta further revealed that Deco was the one who convinced him to take a closer look at Nico, even though the sporting director himself was a huge fan of Luis Diaz.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeco told me about it. In principle, I preferred to work on the other two options, but in these cases, I always listen to the sporting director. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cHe said we should at least listen because he\u2019s an interesting player, because he holds his own on the wing,\u201d<\/strong> he said.<\/p>\n

Laporta described how Barcelona went through with negotiations and how the club gave the opposing entities a final deadline.<\/p>\n

\u201cNegotiations took place, but from what they told us to what it ended up being, there was a big difference in the payment terms, the agent\u2019s commission, and a series of variables that already suggested the deal wouldn\u2019t happen,\u201d<\/strong> he revealed. <\/p>\n

\u201cDeco set a 48-hour deadline, and if they didn\u2019t accept our terms, we wouldn\u2019t do the deal. In the end, it didn\u2019t happen. In parallel, work continued on the other two, and Rashford\u2019s became clearer,\u201d<\/strong> he concluded. <\/p>\n

After missing out on both Nico and Diaz this summer, Barcelona have indeed roped in Rashford<\/a>, who joins on a loan deal with the club having the option to sign the player permanently next summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a recent interview with Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona president Joan Laporta talked about various issues that have engulfed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":90410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[1386,4444,5727,7114,15296,221,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-90409","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-barcelona","9":"tag-barcelona-news","10":"tag-fc-barcelona","11":"tag-joan-laporta","12":"tag-nico-williams","13":"tag-soccer","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90409\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}