The 'covered' of FC Barcelona if Nico Williams fails could be in San Sebastián

Key hours are spent in the FC Barcelona offices. Nico Williams, a big priority in the transfer market for the Barça entity, would be close to announcing his final decision and everything indicates that he will continue at Athletic Club de Bilbao for at least one more year. The Navarrese striker was the Blaugrana's main target of the summer, but the 'pressure' exerted by the lions would have convinced him to stay under the command of Ernesto Valverde next season.

Given this situation, Can Barça is analyzing its options to reinforce the team with a renowned footballer. In principle, Dani Olmo appears as the logical alternative to the Basque player, since the Catalans have been working on his signing since the beginning of the summer window. In fact, the culés' intention was to incorporate the Egarense along with the youngest Williams this summer, but Nico's decision would change the club's plans.

And the fact is that RB Leipzig is not making it too easy when it comes to negotiating Olmo's departure, so the Catalans could study other possibilities, even if these involve changing the squad's planning for the next season. In Barcelona they also intended to hire a guaranteed midfielder to shore up this area of ​​the field, which has been extremely weakened since the departure of Sergio Busquets, but the team 'frozen' this operation to give priority to the transfers of Nico and Dani .

With the arrival of Williams practically 'ruled out', the Blaugranas could activate this option again and would have a great candidate in San Sebastián. Such is the case of Martín Zubimendi, a Real Sociedad midfielder who has been on the Blaugrana radar for a couple of summers. The player is an old wish of the institution as he is one of Xavi Hernández's favorite footballers, who insisted on hiring him although the 60 million euros that the 'txuri-urdin' demanded for his transfer prevented the realization of the same.

They would have it within reach

Now, with the money that was intended to pay Nico's clause in cash, Spotify Camp Nou could try again to acquire his services. Mikel Merino, one of the club's alternatives, would have a closed agreement with Arsenal, while Joshua Kimmich would demand an unaffordable salary for the entity. For his part, Zubimendi would arrive in exchange for the 60 'kilos' that Anoeta is asking for for his signing and would receive a lower salary than what Nico would receive.

At 25 years old, the midfielder has established himself as one of the best in his position, as he showed in the Euro 2024 final when he replaced Rodri Hernández at half-time. The footballer more than fulfilled his expectations in a 'hostile' context and made it clear that he is ready for the elite. His landing would also allow players like Marc Casadó or Marc Bernal to develop with less pressure, who will only be facing their first season in the first team. For these reasons, Martín would fit perfectly both sportingly and economically, so Barça could seriously consider this option.