The curious case that could occur with Nico Williams and FC Barcelona

Good news for FC Barcelona. Although the club's board does not want to wait until August 30 to find out whether or not they will sign Nico Williams, a rule in the RFEF regulations allows them to go to the limit in their desire to convince the winger to leave Athletic Club this summer.

The Barcelona club has reportedly set August 24 as the date to get the new winner of the European Championship. That day, Barça will host Athletic Club at the Estadi Lluís Companys and they hope that Williams will wear the Blaugrana shirt. However, they can wait until Friday, August 30 at 11:59 p.m., which is the deadline set by LaLiga to register players for the 2024/25 season.

By then, three rounds of the Spanish tournament will have already been played, including the match against the Bilbao team. If the operation is not completed by the 24th, the Pamplona native could face Barcelona without this affecting his future. This is explained in the federation's rules, which allow a footballer to play for up to three teams in the same season.

This is established in article 130 of the General Regulations of the RFEF regarding the limitations on footballers' licenses and which literally says that: "A footballer may be registered in only one team of a club, without the possibility of being discharged and registered by the same in the course of the same season, except in the case of force majeure or regulatory provision. Likewise, during the course of the season, he may not be registered and line up in more than three different teams."

What Nico could not do is be registered by Athletic Club, sign for Barcelona and then be registered again in the same season by the Basque club. This was already experienced by Samu Omorodion last season with his signing from Atlético de Madrid to Granada. The Spaniard had to be loaned to Alavés because he could not return to the Andalusians.

UEFA applies the same rule

This rule is not only present in the Spanish league. UEFA also allows a player to be registered for the final phase of the group stage in a different club where he has played in previous rounds, if he has to play them. This situation would not apply to the Navarrese, because Athletic Club de Bilbao will directly play in the group stage of the Europa League and not the preliminary round. Therefore, Barcelona seems to have everything in its favour to sign the winger, the question remains: What decision will Williams make?