Athletic Club will not negotiate for Nico Williams this summer and if any interested party wants the winger they need to match his €55m release clause.
That is according to Marca, who reports the Basque club will demand the full payment of William’s release clause of €55m, which will cause a huge problem for interested clubs.
This means that the full €55m will have to be paid upfront and that will very likely stop Barcelona and Chelsea from signing the Spain international as both have financial issues to worry about and are the main two teams being linked with a move for the 21-year-old.
The Catalan club will simply not be able to afford the €55m fee, while the Premier League outfit can but would want to pay the transfer fee in instalments like many of their recent deals. The London club are wary of breaching the Premier League’s profit and sustainability regulations, which is something that may impact their summer.
Chelsea will have to sell some of their stars over the summer months in order to bring in new recruitments for Mauricio Pochettino and once that is done, maybe then they could afford Williams.
Athletic Club’s Nico Williams has a bright future
€55m feels like a very fair transfer fee to be paying for Williams as the 21-year-old has a very exciting future in football.
The youngster has been very impressive so far in La Liga and has already racked up 120 appearances for Athletic Club, scoring 19 goals and assisting a further 23. In addition to this, the winger has been capped by Spain 13 times and is expected to feature at this summer’s Euros in Germany.
It remains to be seen if any other clubs come knocking for Williams now that they know his price, but when it comes to Barcelona and Chelsea, the €55m release clause will be a tough ask for them to pay.