Barcelona have been adamant Nico Williams was still exploring the idea of signing for them, but the problem for them was the financial side.
They have no problem with money in the bank, but they are waiting to hear if they will have to comply with the 1:1 rules. They hoped VIP seats, that have not been built, counted towards income – but La Liga stopped that.
So they do not know if they could register the player and Williams’ agent had insisted unless they could guarantee he could be, there was no way of doing a deal unless they put an escape clause.
Barcelona did not want to do that as it would have meant they would lose the fee of more than £50m they need to pay for his buy-out clause. If he could not be registered, he would be able to leave for nothing. It made no sense.
The deal got stuck a couple of days ago. Barcelona started to send negative vibes in the Catalan media while maintaining pressure on Williams through the same press.
Williams has been quiet throughout. Bayern Munich were also interested in him but now he has signed for 10 years with a buyout clause of at least 90m euros (£78m).
This will be a blow to Barcelona, who had said, via Deco, that Williams was a priority, while club president Laporta kept suggesting a big signing was coming.
It is the second time in a year that he has decided to stay put, which makes sense for the player.