The Catalan club were rebuffed by Athletic Club last summer and had to compete with Bayern Munich for the winger.

“Athletic Club forward Nico Williams has put pen to paper on a 10-year deal keeping him in Bilbao until 30 June 2035,” a statement read. “Nico’s new agreement has an increase in the release clause of more than 50% over the previous one.

La Liga confirmed that Barcelona still fall short of the 1/1 financial threshold, which allows clubs to freely register new signings. In short, they can’t spend what they don’t have — even if it’s for a player as electric as Nico.