FC Barcelona is working hard in the last few hours to return to the 1/1 rule, a fundamental aspect to be able to reinforce itself without problems. With the signing of Dani Olmo closed (this Thursday it will be made official), the board will make one last effort for Nico Williams, although the return to training with Athletic seems to definitively rule out the options of seeing him in the Barça shirt this summer.
However, Joan Laporta does not consider the Pamplona player lost and has a clear roadmap to close what he himself considers to be the most important operation on the market. On the one hand, the club will soon receive the 60 million pending from the sale of Barça Studios that the Líbero investment fund defaulted on in 2023. Another culé sponsor will take charge of 24.5% of the production company, money that is added to the 40 'kilos ' which the American company Aramak agreed to cover for the remaining 10%.
Iñigo and Roque, on the exit ramp to make room for Nico Williams
In addition, Laporta has two transfers in his sights that could leave another €50M in cash to amortize the signing of Nico. On the one hand, Barça is willing to do without Iñigo Martínez, who already avoided activating his exit clause in July by not being registered in LaLiga. The Basque could leave the club for around 5 million euros, although he could also be offered as part payment in another operation, an option that Athletic already ruled out weeks ago.
For those from Bilbao, the youngest of the Williams will only leave San Mamés for the net of his clause (€62M, including taxes), a position that the club has always kept clear. The other departure that the Barça board seeks to close as soon as possible is that of Vitor Roque. Barça is confident in a sale in the range of €40-45M, a figure that Saudi side Al Hilal is willing to pay, but the striker immediately ruled out the offer.
The lack of prominence of 'Tigrinho' on the American tour, added to the emergence of Pau Víctor, seem to doom him definitively. However, Timóteo's man will wait for a better option, as he has no intention of leaving Europe just six months after his arrival in Barcelona. In any case, both the player and his agent are clear that a loan move does not solve the problem and they will only accept a transfer to an important club.