Why Did Nico Williams' Deal With Barcelona Collapse?

Nico Williams looked bound to be the major 2025 summer signing for Barcelona and further bolster their squad ahead of the 2025/26 season. However, the 22-year-old winger has now made a surprising U-turn after it was announced that he has extended his contract until the end of June 2035 with the Spanish club. He has committed himself to his childhood club for the foreseeable future and seemingly ended any chances of joining the Blaugrana and linking up with Lamine Yamal at the club level.

Why did Nico Williams' Transfer to Barcelona Collapse?

Nico Williams had reportedly agreed on personal terms for a potential six-year contract with Barcelona for joining the reigning La Liga champions in the summer. However, he failed to complete the deal and decided to end up extending his contract with Athletic Bilbao instead. It's now being reported that the reason why his deal with Barcelona collapsed was because of registration problems within the Blaugrana.

Barcelona could not give a total guarantee of registering Williams into their squad if he joined them, which ended up spooking the Spanish winger. The La Liga giants can only register new players with relatively high wages once they're able to sell some of their existing players, which they've failed to do so far in the 2025 summer window. Only Ansu Fati has been loaned out to AS Monaco, but they have failed to properly offload any player from their books.

Barcelona faced difficulties in registering their new signings in the 2024/25 season as well. Dani Olmo was signed in the 2024 summer window but only registered up until December 31, 2024. He ended up getting deregistered in January (2025) before the club scrambled to find some necessary funds to reregister him by selling the VIP seats of their new Camp Nou stadium for a major financial windfall. Williams couldn't be convinced that he'd be registered immediately after signing for the club, which is why he opted to sign a new deal with Athletic Bilbao instead.

How Has Nico Williams Performed In His Career So Far?

Nico Williams has been one of the most exciting attacking players to have come up in Spanish football over the last few years. He made his debut for Athletic Bilbao on April 28, 2021, against Real Valladolid. Nico has been at Athletic Bilbao since the age of 11 and came up through the youth academy with his elder brother, Inaki Williams, who also plays alongside him at the club.

Nico Williams has enjoyed quite a bit of success with the Basque club over the years. He helped Bilbao win the 2023/24 Copa del Rey title, which was their first Copa del Rey title since 1984. The 22-year-old has made 167 appearances for Athletic Bilbao so far, scoring 31 goals and providing 30 assists for them. He scored 11 goals and provided seven assists for them in the 2024/25 season, helping them finish in fourth place and qualify for the UEFA Champions League.

Nico Williams has had a decorated career with the Spanish national football team so far, becoming a regular at the age of 22. He has made 28 appearances for La Roja, scoring six goals and providing seven assists, which included his goal in the 2024 Euros final win over England. The 22-year-old is an explosive winger with a lot of pace and the ability to make goal contributions in key moments, but it seems that Barcelona will now need to abandon his transfer pursuit and try to sign an alternative winger option instead.