LaLiga president leaked confidential financial information on Barcelona to help Athletic Club pressure Nico Williams into new contract: Reports

LaLiga president Javier Tebas reportedly leaked Barcelona's confidential financial statement to Athletic Club during their meeting about Nico Williams. The Spanish side allegedly used it to pressure the winger to stay at the club and extend his contract.

As per a report by Miguel Galan via BarcaTimes, Tebas played a key role in helping Athletic Club keep Williams at the club. The journalist has accused him of showing the financial statement of the Catalan club when the Basque club went to LaLiga office to complain.

Galan added that Athletic Club used the statement to create doubt in Williams' mind, amid reports that he wanted a guarantee from Barcelona about them being in a position to register him straight after he joined. The club then put pressure on the Williams family to get the winger to change his mind and extend his stay at the club.

Athletic Club confirmed in the final week of June that they held a meeting with Tebas and LaLiga following comments from Deco about their player, Williams. They were not happy that the Catalan side were pushing for the move despite not being in a financial condition to activate the clause. Their statement read (translated by 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."

"Deco's statements add to the public statements made by FC Barcelona 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."

Nico Williams was in talks to join Barcelona after the club confirmed their intentions to activate his €58 million release clause. However, he ended up signing a new deal until 2035 to stay with the Basque side.

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LaLiga president sent warning to Barcelona after Athletic Club complaint

Javier Tebas spoke to EFE in June and confirmed that LaLiga did not have the authority to interfere and stop comments from Barcelona on Nico Williams. However, he said that the league would ensure that the Catalan side were within the financial limits and rules set by them before approving the transfer.

He 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. 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."

Tebas has also publicly told the Catalan side that they would not be able to register the forward even if they had activated his release clause. Arsenal and Bayern Munich were also interested in signing Nico Williams but failed to lure him away.