Copying the wings of the Spanish team, Barcelona officially launched the "Nico offensive"

Written by Han Bing After the European Championship last year, Barcelona President Joan Laporta announced in a high-profile manner that he would replicate the invincible wings of the Spanish team at Barcelona, and the first target of reinforcements was Yamal's left-sided partner Nico Williams. Unfortunately, at that time, Barcelona suffered from the failure of economic "leverage" in a row, and even the registration of first-team players became a problem. In the end, the purchase of Olmo was only completed by Laporta and other high-level individuals, and the introduction of Nico Williams was weak.

However, last season, it won the Spanish domestic league, cup and Super Cup treble, and the Champions League reached the semi-finals, and Barcelona's revenue increased significantly this season. The financial situation has improved significantly, creating conditions for the resumption of Barça's "Spanish Wings" program. Last weekend, after a full assessment, Laporta approved the operation to introduce Nico. Nico's 58 million euro release fee (about 62 million including tax) is no longer an insurmountable obstacle for Barcelona today.

While Bayern Munich and Arsenal are also pursuing Nico, the player prefers to join up with his friends Yamal and Balde, who are willing to accept Barca's €12 million annual salary before tax last year. The change in the player's willingness is key to the acceleration of the deal, and Barça sporting director Deco also met with Nico's agent, Teinta, to first reach a preliminary agreement on the player's personal terms. Although Barcelona also have two options, Liverpool's Dias and Manchester United's Marcus Rashford, Ruiz's offer is as high as 80 million euros, and whether Rashford can quickly integrate into La Liga is still in question, and Nico is clearly the preferred target.

Like Wirtz, Bayern approached Niko's team two weeks ago and made an offer of an annual salary that was much higher than Barca's. Athletic Bilbao also offered Nico a contract extension in May, with an annual salary of 10 million euros before tax, the highest salary in the history of the Basque club. But Nico wants to join Barcelona and fight for trophies and individual honours. It's just that Deco and Teinta met and was exposed, which increased the difficulty of the transfer. Athletic Bilbao originally wanted the meeting to be kept secret, but after the revelation, the club felt disgraced and insisted that the 58 million euro termination fee must be activated before he was released.

In order to try for Nico to confirm his mind as soon as possible, Barcelona coach Flick personally called Nico and detailed his future plans. Replicating the midfield configuration of the Spanish national team is the core of Barcelona's future strategy. Barcelona already has Yamal, Pedri, and Olmo three main players, and only Nico is missing the last piece of the puzzle. The pursuit of youth and localization is the basic direction of Barcelona, and the 22-year-old Spanish international Nico is clearly the ideal candidate. Compared with the market value of 70 million euros, Nico's release fee of 58 million euros is tantamount to "picking up a treasure".

The core problem with the introduction of Nico is Barcelona's financial situation. The rating agency DBRS has upgraded Barça's credit rating from stable to "positive", at least partially, boosting confidence in Barça's financial situation. In addition to the hundreds of millions of euros in bonuses brought by last season, the annual contract extension with Nike, worth 150 million euros, has increased even more significantly. Barcelona will return to the Camp Nou in August, which is being refurbished, and although the initial capacity is only 62,000, matchday earnings will be higher than Montjuïc.

The 2023/24 season does not include player transfer gains, and Barcelona achieved EBITDA for the first time in the last four seasons, and the profit is expected to reach 90 million euros in the 2024/25 season. The 2026/27 Camp Nou, with a capacity of 98,000 people, will generate €1.1 billion in revenue for the season. The ratio of Barcelona's first-team salary to the club's annual income will drop from 70% to 55%, further freeing up salary space for signing Nico and other strong reinforcements.

Barcelona have bought Espanyol's 24-year-old young goalkeeper Juan Garcia and activated a release fee of 25 million euros (a total of 26.3415 million including tax) to replace Ter Stegen. Athletic Bilbao's insistence on a one-time release fee is a challenge for Barcelona. However, Barcelona earned 6 million by selling Valle (Serie A Como), and Todibo and Moriba earned 8 million and 600,000 euros respectively from secondary transfers. The secondary transfers of Mingueza, Malmore and Jugra will continue to bring benefits, and the possible transfers of players such as Trincon, Roque, Daist, Pedrola, Alenia and Hayes will also be profitable, while Lenglet and Ter Stegen will free up more salary space.

Barcelona, which no longer has to worry about player registration, is in no hurry to push forward with Nico's negotiations. The player's willingness to give Barcelona the capital to "bargain", after all, this summer is Athletic Bilbao's last chance to get the most out of Nico, who has two years left on his contract. Barcelona could even wait until after the July 24-August trip to Asia to complete the negotiations. Barcelona will warm up with Vissel Kobe, FC Seoul and Daegu FC to earn millions of euros, further demonstrating the club's global influence and earning power.