gregorrin10
Senior Member
Exactly how I see him. We'd get that unpredictability back, but with an actual brain and goals this time.
Nico Williams
- Thread starter George_Costanza
- Start date
gregorrin10
Senior Member
Prediction:
After United and Chelsea start their bidding war, he comes out and says that the only way he's leaving Bilbao is to go to Barca.
Givenchy
Senior Member
United are broke. Chelsea already ruled themselves out iirc due to his wages.
I think he'll be a Barca player if Laporta can find the money some how.
gregorrin10
Senior Member
I do think he needs to be the priority this summer. No matter how many times we've said and how long we are without a top DM, he's just too good to be missed out on. We've been without a world class LW since Neymar left. Especially if we switch to 4-2-3-1, DM becomes a lesser priority. And we can still get Merino for that midfield two for a cut price anyway.
He's worth more, which is why it's such a good deal.
In today's market he's a 70m euros player, after the euros it would have gone up to at least 85.
Don Juan Laporta Estruch
Well-known member
Rumours are that Deco wants to buy Philogene from Hull instead. If that's the case, Deco can beat it. We wanna be starting something with Nico and Lamine on the wings. With them two on the wings I can see Barca serving up plenty of thrillers. It's only human nature to want to see fast, attacking football.
Total-Football
Senior Member
Shamone man
khaled_a_d
Senior Member
You realise that this will be due to financial issues, rather than by choice
Loki
Well-known member
Even if the club returns to the 1:1 rule, it needs to free up more than €70m to be able to register him because of the release clause in one installment + his first contract year wage of at least €12m. Where the hell should the club get €70m without selling an important player? Stop dreaming boys, next year is the only chance to get him. And I also don't believe he wants a transfer this summer. He said several times he is happy and he extended last year.
They joke as if he's already signed.
They surely follow media and Nico definitely wants to join. I think he's just waiting for Barca to strike a deal with Athletic.
This.
Nico makes alot of sense, but put it this way. He would have been a free agent this Summer, and were not in the financial position to pay 50m on a guy who we were likely talking to his agent indirectly in December- who had he waited till January to renew could have even spoken to us directly.
So a few points,
1)he could have signed direct for us but demanded a "loyalty" sign on bonus to Bilbao so they would get some financial compensation (eg 20m). Which would have helped us immensely.
2) He signed a 4 year renewal with Bilbao. Dembele signed 2 years two years with us to get some autonomy.
So I don't blame Nico for staying at Bilbao, but at the same time I don't blame us for looking elsewhere today. In a seasons time, hopefully our financially muscle is much better, this Philomena guy (or whoever comes) ends up being great and we can still return to Nico like Laporta done in the past with Henry or Rosell done with Cesc.
khaled_a_d
Senior Member
To add to this:
-Nico was under no obligation to make his release clause a standard Spanisg one, he could have made same amount but with clause that it is for any club to pay, and may even agree on it being in installments. Release clause is to protect players, so you can always soften it.
Well,he didn't.
-There are richer clubs in the market, and some of them were reluctant to sign him due to high package, not just release clause, but also his own demands. Barcelona might not be able to compete and Nico gave no indicators that he will take a 0ay cut for us. If anything many Bilbao and Basque players preferred going abroad than staying in Liga
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