Barcelona admit Williams defeat - and target Premier League star instead

Tom Weber

Updated: 12 Aug 2024 17:23 BST
3 min read

Barcelona are ready to give up on Nico Williams and focus on Luis Diaz instead, according to Spanish media.

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The Blaugrana are at the point now where they are willing to admit defeat in their pursuit of Athletic Club superstar Williams. It has been rumoured for some time that the 22-year-old would remain in Bilbao.

Despite Williams seemingly confirming his decision to stay in a social media video, Barcelona had retained hope of signing him, believing that the clip was staged and that the winger was forced to say that he was looking forward to the new season.

It was later confirmed that Barcelona were still trying to convince him, with Fabrizio Romano revealing that the Blaugrana remained in frequent contact with his camp.

Though there have been questions about Barcelona's ability to afford him after spending €62 million on Dani Olmo, they were confident of landing him if only they managed to lure him away from Athletic.

Barca move on

However, now that Williams has been presented with the No.10 shirt of club legend Iker Muniain, Barcelona are ready to accept that he is not going anywhere this summer.

According to Mundo Deportivo, the focus has now shifted to Liverpool winger Luis Diaz, who is the club's new top target for the offensive wide positions.

This comes after The Athletic claimed that the Reds would be open to selling the Colombian, a well-known Barcelona fan, for a fee in a similar ballpark to Williams €58m release clause, which has given the LaLiga giants hope of landing him.

It remains to be seen how this story will develop, but Diaz has been linked with the Blaugrana for months. The player and his father have made no secret of their dream to eventually see the 27-year-old in the famous Barcelona shirt.