Nico Williams' mother, Madrid's alleged interest, and Laporta's latest slap in the face.

Nico Williams's contract extension with Athletic Bilbao was celebrated in Bilbao as if it were a signing. And in a way, that's exactly what it was. It's no wonder the Spanish international, accused by fans of being ungrateful, a traitor, and a "shit rat," had a deal in place with FC Barcelona to leave. Why didn't he? Because the Catalan club couldn't guarantee he could pay his buyout clause in a timely manner.

The fact that his agent, the same as many of his teammates, demanded a clause in the contract stating that if Nico wasn't registered in LaLiga by August 20th, he would be a free agent and Barça would lose his 58 million release clause, was the reason for breaking off the deal. The perfect excuse to opt for the renewal offer that Jon Uriarte had sent him in the meantime , which was financially superior to Barça's and ran until 2035, no less.

It's worth remembering that the case of Dani Olmo and his teammate Pau Víctor was resolved in the nick of time thanks to a political move. The Higher Sports Council (CSD) took advantage of a serious error by Javier Tebas , including the "lack of jurisdiction" of the RFEF-LaLiga Agreement Monitoring Committee , to grant the Catalans a precautionary measure, allowing them to play the season as normal.

Laporta's ridiculousness in a signing that has eluded him for the second time is only comparable to that of the player himself, who remains in Bilbao because he couldn't leave, as he intended. His agent, Félix Tainta from Navarra, has offered him to several European clubs, from Arsenal to Bayern Munich , without a response from any of them. Possibly because none of them saw much interest from the player in making the deal.

Nico wanted to leave Bilbao, but not leave Spain.

In fact, as sources close to Nico claim, his intention was to leave Bilbao, but not to leave Spain. Hence, his only options were FC Barcelona and Real Madrid . At this point, what better way to piss off the former than to leak the latter's alleged interest, which was denied by a call from the club's general manager, José Ángel Sánchez , to his Bilbao counterpart, Jon Berasategi .

Curiously, the person in charge of making this move wasn't the youngest of the Williams brothers' representatives, but María Confort Arthuer . Namely, the mother of Nico and his brother Iñaki, who, on the other hand, constantly tried to convince him not to leave. Although, as we've mentioned, Real Madrid made it clear internally to Athletic that they had no interest in the striker , you only have to look at the newspaper archives to see how the leak had the desired effect.

Timeline of a soap opera with the same ending

May 20, Marca newspaper: " Nico Williams' name has started to be heard loudly in the Valdebebas offices . The young Athletic Club winger has become a very attractive prospect for Real Madrid, who are seriously considering his signing . The deal is not far-fetched and is relatively simple: all that's required is to pay his €58 million release clause."

"Furthermore, Valdebebas is valuing the dramatic impact of taking away from Barcelona one of the key objectives they were targeting last season, although it's true that it has lost momentum since Raphinha's explosion. Nico's signing for Real Madrid would undoubtedly be a market bomb, a high-impact signing that could balance out Lamine Yamal's emerging figure on the national football scene."

May 30, fcbarcelonanoticias.com: "Nico Williams' name is back on FC Barcelona's agenda. Although the sporting directorate has explored other profiles to strengthen the flanks in recent months, the young Athletic Club winger appears to have not given up on his goal: to play at Camp Nou . According to the latest reports, his entourage has reactivated contacts."

"Nico Williams would be willing to adjust to Barça's salary cap, assuming the financial burden for an entity that still faces financial fair play restrictions. The buyout clause remains a considerable obstacle. However, the player believes this is the right time to make the leap to a top European club and sees Barça as the ideal environment for his development."

June 4, Cadena SER: "Nico Williams' agent has called FC Barcelona to offer him a move." "After an initial telephone call , Félix Tainta traveled to Barcelona to meet with Barça's sporting management on Friday, June 13," the aforementioned station later reported. "The meeting took place at the Hotel Torre Melina. During the meeting, the agent conveyed his client's desire to sign for Barça. He assured them that Nico was now a more mature player and that this time his departure could occur under more favorable economic conditions for the Catalan club (payment in installments), given his financial situation."

The role of Thebes in blocking the operation

Although it may seem unbelievable, as it is well known that "Bilbao", as they like to call the red and white team at Can Barça, was going to demand the full payment of the clause, Joan Laporta was emboldened with an operation that was doomed to failure and, as we reported in this newspaper , Tebas took advantage of the opportunity to bring LaLiga closer to Athletic and use it to control the Catalan, as the latter has a pending complaint against him, which could lead to his disqualification , since he has already been publicly reprimanded.

That the announcement of Nico's renewal coincided with the news of UEFA's fine against Barça for breaching financial fair play only confirmed Laporta's ridiculousness and the triumph of Uriarte, who has had Tainta as his best ally . Meanwhile, the fact that Nico Williams has accepted a clause of around 90 million, instead of not putting one at all , as other teammates have done, is further proof that if he renewed it is because he couldn't leave, and not because he wanted to stay . Which suggests that he will end up doing so and at least leave more millions. Assuming that someone doesn't do like Barça and, before convincing him, can pay them.