Barcelona star will have big say in Nico Williams saga

Barcelona need to be busy in the transfer market if they are able to get all of their desired signing completed by the start of September. Joan Garcia has already joined, and the hope is that Nico Williams will follow – but complications have arisen in recent days due to uncertainty about whether he can be registered by the end of the summer.

Barcelona need to move players on to free up salary space

Williams and his agent want guarantees that he will be registered before the start of the 2025-26 season in August, but for that to happen, Barcelona need to move first team players on. If they do, they will have the salary space required to register him with La Liga.

A number of candidates to depart have emerged, such as Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Andreas Christensen. And according to Sport, the latter could end up being the difference between whether Williams can be registered.

Christensen is favoured candidate to be sold

Barcelona are overbooked in central defence, with Pau Cubarsi, Inigo Martinez, Ronald Araujo, Christensen and Eric Garcia as options in that area. Sporting director Deco recently hinted that one of them will be sold this summer, and the Dane is the favoured candidate – primarily due to his contract situation.

Christensen has a high salary due to arriving as a free agent in 2022, and with no plans for him to be offered an extension, Barcelona want to get rid now. But he does not want to leave this summer, which has thrown a spanner in the works of Deco’s plans.

If Christensen were to leave, Barcelona would be on track to create the salary space required to register Williams – and Garcia too. There is interest in his services, but unless he changes his mind, it is difficult to see him leaving the club this summer.