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LaLiga president Javier Tebas has confirmed that Barcelona will not be able to register Nico Williams even if they activate the release clause in his contract with Athletic Bilbao. Tebas hinted that the Catalan side's wage bill will prevent them from registering the Spaniard in LaLiga.
Tebas said (via Tribuna.com):
"As of today, Barcelona wouldn't be able to register him."
The comment comes just days after Athletic Bilbao confirmed that they had registered a complaint against the Catalan side. They were not happy with Barca sporting director Deco showing interest in signing Williams. The Athletic Club met LaLiga officials and said in a statement (via GOAL):
"The meeting was held in Madrid in response to a request from Athletic Club made within the framework of compliance with financial fair play. Among the topics discussed was FC Barcelona's ability to sign players after FC Barcelona sporting director Deco publicly acknowledged that they will try to sign a player from our first team."
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"Deco's statements add to the public statements made by president Joan Laporta himself, admitting that the Blaugrana club 'is working to be within the 1:1 rule' and that, therefore, it is not currently within the parameters of said rule for registering players," the statement continued.
Tebas was quick to comment on the complaint and said they were not in a position to block the transfer. However, he added that they will not give the Catalan side any leeway to get the transfer done. The LaLiga president said (via GOAL):
"Athletic Club are complaining because Barca have publicly stated, if the statements attributed to Deco are true, that they want to sign a player. According to FIFA regulations, he is in a protected period, and we don't have the authority to interfere in that."
He added:
"What we will do, as we have always done, is that Barca will have to comply with the regulations to sign players, be it Nico Williams, [Erling] Haaland, [Lionel] Messi... whoever it may be. And we won't change anything."
Nico Williams has a €58 million release clause in his contract, and the Catalan side are willing to activate it this summer.
Barcelona confident they can sign Nico Williams
The president of the Catalan club, Joan Laporta, recently said they have nothing to hide and are open to the league auditing the club. Laporta said (via GOAL):
"Let them audit us, we have nothing to hide. Barca is prepared to do what is necessary, if a market opportunity requires paying a clause."
La Blaugrana are likely to activate Williams' release clause despite the Athletic Club’s resistance.
Arsenal and Chelsea are also keeping tabs on Nico Williams and are willing to activate his clause if he cannot go to Camp Nou.
