Exclusive: Chelsea and Arsenal remain attentive to world class Barcelona target
With the European Championship and Copa America now finished, both Chelsea and Arsenal, along with clubs Europe wide, can crank up their transfer window activity.
The start of the new Premier League season is only four weeks away, with pre-season work beginning whilst the aforementioned tournaments were still taking place.
One player that stood out in Germany was Spain’s brilliant winger, Nico Williams.
Chelsea and Arsenal hoping to land Nico Williams
The Athletic Club ace is a wanted man, with La Liga giants, Barcelona, hoping to land the 22-year-old in order that he and Lamine Yamal can play together for club and country.
Chelsea and Arsenal are both waiting in the wings, however.
“Barcelona’s sporting director, Deco, had a meeting with the agent of the player in Zaragoza, and they’re trying to be fast on agreeing personal terms with Nico Williams, because they believe that reaching an agreement with Nico on the project, on the salary, on the contract is important,” Fabrizio Romano noted in his exclusive Daily Briefing for CaughtOffside.
“Barca know that Premier League clubs are coming. Barca know that big Premier League clubs are already trying to understand what’s going to happen and, maybe, they hope in England that things could collapse for Barcelona because of Financial Fair Play, so that they can enter the race.
“We know about the interest of Chelsea and Arsenal who are keeping a close eye to the situation. He’s still very expensive for both clubs because the clause has to be paid in one solution; big commission, big salary.
“This is why, for example, one month ago, Chelsea decided to go slower on the story of Nico Williams, but in case Barcelona don’t close the deal, Chelsea and Arsenal are attentive to the situation.”
Rumours of Raphinha being linked with a move back to the Premier League were dismissed by Romano too, who also spoke about the situation Vitor Roque currently finds himself in.
“Despite the rumours, I have zero information on contacts between Premier League clubs and Raphinha at the moment guys,” he added.
“Also the player has gone public this week to confirm his plan to stay at Barça, so really quiet around Raphinha at the moment.
“The current situation with Vitor Roque is that he’s expected to travel on FC Barcelona’s pre-season tour of the USA, then we will see what happens.”
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