Former Athletic Bilbao sporting director, Rafael Alkorta, has slammed Barcelona over their approach to sign Nico Williams this summer.
Williams has attracted widespread interest across Europe with Arsenal, Chelsea and Bayern Munich all keen on signing the 22-year-old, who has a €58 million (£48.1m) release clause in his deal with Bilbao.
However, it’s understood that Williams has agreed to join Barcelona this summer following a meeting with the club’s sporting director, Deco, while on holiday in Ibiza last week.
Barcelona have also indicated that they are ready to pay Williams’ release clause but their delicate financial situation means that they will need to sell players to be able to register the Spain international for the upcoming season.
And Alkorta believes Barcelona have put Williams in a ‘difficult position’ by revealing details of their agreement with the winger to the media.
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‘They did it last year, and I didn’t quite understand the move. It was a case of wanting to, but not being able to,’ Alkorta told Cadena SER.
‘But what’s happening now seems incredible to me. For Deco to come out and say the player wants to come… they’re leaving the player in a very difficult position.
‘I think what Barca said is terrible, what Deco said. Barca have been so tactless about this whole thing from the start.
‘I think it’s terrible that they’re putting him in this situation.
‘Athletic have already said: ‘Do you want to pay the release clause? Pay it in full at once.’. But once it’s leaked — it’s true that it’s a Barca leak — saying that they have an agreement with Nico… what does the player have to do? Come out and deny it? That’s the problem.
‘The problem is that they’re putting the kid in a difficult position, in a situation we could all understand.
‘All of us who play football know how things work, and sometimes you go from one team to another and nothing happens. You pay the release clause, you leave, and that’s it.
‘But it seems unbelievable to me. I already thought it was unbelievable how Barca did things last year, and how they’re doing them this year.’
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