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- [00:00]
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- [00:15]
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- [00:59]
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- [01:00]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
Race the sails. Race the sails.
- [01:02]
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- [01:05]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
Over. Roger, wait. Is that an enterprise sales solution?
- [01:10]
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- [01:32]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
The Athletic FC Podcast Network.
- [01:39]
Ayo Akimolere
Welcome to the Athletic FC Podcast with me, Ayo Akimolere. Barcelona have agreed personal terms with Athletic Bilbao for winger Nicole Williams. But how can they actually afford him? And which other players are Barca looking to bring in this summer? So with us today for this one we have the Athletics Barcelona correspondent, Paul Belous and writer of the Athletic FC newsletter, Phil Hay as well. Good to have you with us, gents. Paul, let's start with you. Nicole Williams. Look, a player that's been linked with several clubs, but it seems Barcelona is the club he has set his eyes on. The big question is how close are Barca to actually get him as a player?
- [02:22]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
I think it's very likely. I think it's very likely. As you said, the personal terms are well agreed. There's a verbal agreement in in place and when you speak to sources that are closer to the dressing room, basically they take it as a stone deal. They know that Nico wants to play there, that it's the number one priority and that most importantly, he's willing to take all the caveats that it takes to join Barca and The potential registration issues that we've seen in the past, this is something that he was a bit afraid of last summer and basically the main reason why he didn't join Barcelona last summer. But. But now it seems, well, it is the fact that he is willing to go through all this. That's what the player and his camp has told Barcelona. And that's the main reason basically why Barcelona said, okay, then, we are going to go back for you. Because if you asked any executives at Barcelona or even people close to the president in March or April this season, when you asked about Nico Williams, I said, no, no, no, we are not going to go after him because he wasn't too involved in like joining us last summer. And for any player that wants to play for Barcelona, we really need to see that he really wants to join Barcelona and Nico Williams wasn't on those levels last summer, but he is now. And he has been willing to take a step and let the club know that this is thinking now. And that's why in the end of the day, I think that this is going to be done. Because there's a lot of boxes that are ticked with Nico Williams because he fits with the football profile that Barca are looking for. He fits really well with the dressing room. He's best mates with basically everyone in the dressing room and that's what Deco is looking for. So basically I think it's just a matter of time and just all the formalities to be completed, which is not a minor thing at Barcelona, as we all know in this podcast.
- [04:07]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, I mean, like, let's talk formalities. £50 million release clause. But I mean, I want to talk about salary because, you know, we've reported it several times, even with other suitors, that his salary demands are going to be quite interesting. But also Barcelona are a team with issues, issues around salary to say the least. I mean, what's the deal here? Like, how on earth are they going to get past this?
- [04:31]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
So basically the deal here is that Nico Williams has to be signed on a one off payment, which is the release clause, as you mentioned, 50 million pound release clause. It has to be paid one off. And that has been seen like in the past in recent transfer windows as a hurdle for other Premier League clubs or like even Barcelona now. It's not seen as a hurdle, it's something that Barca can't afford. It's not seen as a huge obstacle, something that Barca can do and they accept that if they want to sign Mique Williams, you have to do this because Athletic Club, they don't want to negotiate. So Barca say that they are fine with it. The most problematic thing with Barcelona is the salary limit that they have because we enter here in a dodgy gray area, great gray territory with La Liga Barcelona. The full information is never fully disclosed until the transfer window ends. So it's something that we try to be careful with. But yeah, just to lay out the picture here, La Liga is saying that Barca are now spending more than the salary limit that they have been set with. So basically that means that they need to offload current salaries to let new ones coming in. And Barca basically they expect to be saving salaries with the forthcoming weeks of the transfer window. They have already done some job regarding to this because they have sold Alex Baja to Como permanently. That's when salary that is gone plus a transfer fee that raises the income. They've cashed in money for Jean Claire Todibo, who signed for West Ham. Barca had a sell on closing there. They have said Clement Lenglet's salary, his contract has been terminated with the club and he has joined Atletico de Madrid. And there's other minor names such as Alex Collado, Unai Hernandez. So there's bits and bobs in there. And Barca have the expectation to keep saving money with other contracts. We're going to speak about them later. I. I'm. I'm sure about this, but with names suggest Mark Andre Tereste or Anshu Fati. Those are names that are on the departure list in the club and they hope that with this sort of work Barca are going to be in a position that La Liga will allow them to register both Nico Williams and Juan Garcia, the goalkeeper that they signed last week as well.
- [06:33]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, Paul, as we're talking about money and we're talking about wages, what kind of wages is someone like Nico Williams going to command if he moves to Barcelona?
- [06:43]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
So basically what we've heard is that with the prospect of moving to Barcelona, Nico Williams is rejecting a contract extension at Athletic Club which was about to place him as the best paid footballer in the club's history. People in Bilbao say that the sort of new contract should be around 10 million net per season. And basically Nico Williams is going to turn this down to go to Barcelona. And when you speak to Barcelona, they tell you sources in the club that the contract that he's expected to take is the same terms that they discussed last summer when Nico Williams was potentially going to join the club, but he didn't eventually. And those discuss terms should be closer to 6 million net per season, which is high salary, quite similar to the one that he's earning right now at Athletic Club with the current contract. But in a way it's a salary that is in a balanced place in the Barcelona salary scale. It's what Barca can afford. And if Williams wants to join Barcelona, which is his top one priority, this is basically what he's going to take. Of course there's like if you play for Barcelona in the commercial side of things, there's other ways to make more income and potentially that's something that Nico Williams has in mind. But that's the terms that we've been informed from Bilbao and from Barcelona about what could happen in the signing of Nico Williams.
- [08:03]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, look Phil, no club, you know, is immune to sort of financial situations themselves, you know, especially when you're operating at this level. But I almost just feel like every time we talk about Barcelona there has to be the caveat of can they afford it? But also how long can you keep kicking this can down the road, you know, pulling these levers if you want to operate at the optimum level and attract the best players to come to your team.
- [08:25]
Phil Hay
It's true, you know, it's almost like an annual event of reading Paul's articles to find out what the latest levers are and what's being pulled next. And you do sort of assume that it can't be sustainable forever. But there is almost this scenario of Barca being too big to fail. You know, no matter how severe the problems become and no matter how hard pressed they seem to be financially, they somehow seem to find a bit of wiggle room which allows them to make these additional signings. And none of them are coming especially cheap, you know, Olmo Raphinha, Lewandowski, Kounde Williams as he's about to be. They're all sort of roughly around the 40 million to 50 million pound bracket or thereabouts outs anyway, which to be fair is actually quite pedestrian these days when you see Verts going to Liverpool for 116 million. And I think it must be fairly safe to assume that Barca wouldn't have a prayer of getting a deal like that over the line at the minute. But they're certainly not spending peanuts. I mean, I can only judge from a distance, but from reading Paul's coverage and our Barca coverage more generally, I don't get the impression that Barca's reality is about to change anytime soon. I guess a new stadium or will surely help when it comes to annual turnover. And revenue and all of those things, but they seem to be in this perennial battle to balance the books and I'm not sure what it is that's going to restore full financial order there in the short term. Anyway, as you say, this scenario shouldn't really be sustainable, but this is Barcelona and they do seem to find a way, and more to the point, they found a way which has made them look like the best, best team in Europe last season bar in Paris Saint Germain, which makes it a real paradox.
- [10:04]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, it does. And you know, we talk about the new camp or Camp now poll. Look, I think it's September, fingers crossed that Barcelona due to move back into camp now. But I also know there were, what was it, over 400 VIP seats that were looking to be sold yet again to raise more money. Where are we with all those VIP seats that were supposed to be sold for hopefully more money to come into Barcelona?
- [10:28]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
Yeah, that's a really good question because, like, when there's a lot of people who are like sort of making jokes to me like, oh, which lever are Barca going to take this summer? And stuff, I think that the most similar thing to a lever that will arrive to Barcelona this summer is that money from the VIP sitting sale. So basically this sale was done, it was done in January. Barca received the money from that sale. But the thing is that they weren't allowed to count that money in because according to their audit company, basically these seats were not built yet. So they were not an asset yet. So you cannot count the money in for an asset that is not in the club's books, basically. So what Barcelona have done in recent months has been rushing to build all these VIP sitting seats that Newcome know and making like a top priority in their building process. And when you speak to the club now, they say, and they believe that the club is in a good position to say that the BIP seeds have already been built and that when the club is ready to play back at the camp now, these seeds are going to be an asset. So this money that was cashed in in January but could not be counted for budget purposes will be allowed to be counted by this summer. And this is going to according to the club again because you have to take it with a pinch of salt in every stage of the process. But according to the club, this is going to be a boost to the financ, to the salary limit, to the amount of money that they can spend. And yeah, this could be seen from the outside as one of those levers that We've seen in, in past years.
- [11:59]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah. Phil, look, if you look at last season, what Barca won the domestic double in La Liga, got to the semi finals of the Champions League. And you alluded to it earlier, this sort of weird paradox that we're in. Do you think the success of their season makes these financial risks really worth it? But also I'm still thinking about the kind of players that can still attract just by saying they're Barcelona players do want to play for them.
- [12:25]
Phil Hay
Oh, players do. There's no doubt. I remember when Raphinha was going from Leeds, it was, it was Barcelona or nobody. Chelsea would have taken him. They would have made a financial deal much more easily than Barcelona were able to. But that was the only move that he, that he wanted to make. I mean, it clearly is worth the risk in the short term because the, the whole point of Barcelona's existence is to win trophies and to be the best they can be. And I don't think there's any doubting that the effort they made to sign Dani Olmo last season and to keep registering him despite the pressure from La Liga made a really big difference. It was worth the grind and worth the various battles that they had to fight. But I think that sort of question, you know, is it worth it? Was it worth it? It probably needs to be asked with more hindsight. If no long term harm comes to Barcelona, then clearly, you know, the gambles are worth taking. Two out two equals four, doesn't it? But if somewhere down the line, Barca's refusal to cut the cloth and to tighten the belt and to properly sort themselves out does them really significant damage, then there really would be a debate to be had about whether the hand to mouth strategy was a sensible one and one they should have persisted with. Because supporters, as much as they love trophies, do tend to see trophies in a different context when the club runs into big trouble.
- [13:40]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
Yeah.
- [13:40]
Ayo Akimolere
Well, how long can they keep kicking this can down the road? Because short term, yes, we understand it's just about working and thank goodness you've got a coach like Hansi Flick there who can kind of manage what's going on with the board and also shielding the players in many respects. But we've spoken about this before and I keep thinking, you know, when on earth is it all going to fall apart? Because they are walking on a really thin line here.
- [14:02]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
Just like the general feeling here is and not just in Barcelona, I'm talking about Spain, is that feeling that Phil said here that Barcelona like too big to fail. And in A way what Laporta tried from the first minute since he was reelected was to try to assemble the most competitive team that he could as soon as possible. And just if the ball goes into the back of the net, then all the problems can get solved easily. That's just his thinking. And I mean Laporte, of course there can be a lot of reproaches and regrets since his tenure at the club, but like the sort of. I don't know if it's luck, it might be luck, but it's the sort of faith and belief that he had. And then he found the Laminamal, found the. Yeah, Gavi found these sort of players coming through the youth ranks out of nothing. It's just. Yeah. Mad to see. And like, despite all the caveats that Laporta's tenure at the club can have, if you look at the team that he inherited and the team that Barca has now, I cannot see like any fan next summer when elections come at the club because there are going to be elections next summer. I cannot see any fan voting against John Laporta because the sort of sporting dimension that he's given to a club that seemed to be off it, really off it. It's something that is basically going to convince all the fans that he's the right man to be in the place, despite at some point he might behave like, I don't know, some sort of bullish approach the transfer window or how they want to sign players at the end of the day, like the result. And what Barca has done, especially last season, has been something that Barca fans couldn't even expect last summer.
- [15:46]
Ayo Akimolere
You're listening to the Athletic FC podcast with IO Akimolere.
- [15:53]
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- [16:56]
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- [17:12]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
Race the rudders. Race the sails. Race the sails.
- [17:16]
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- [17:18]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
Over.
- [17:19]
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- [17:20]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
Is that an enterprise sales solution?
- [17:23]
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- [17:47]
Ayo Akimolere
All right, let's talk about what kind of player Barcelona are going to be getting when it comes to Nico Williams. So let's bring in our data writer, Connor o' Neill. Connor, so good to have you with us. I mean, in true athletic style, we need to dissect this player. We all know what he looks like on the field and he is a dazzling winger. He scores goals, he assists. But when it comes to recruiting a player like this, exactly what are his skill sets and what stands out about him?
- [18:12]
Connor O'Neill
Well, I think first foremost is like Yamal. He has that same ability to terrorize his fullback taking him on and he's only behind Yamal for take ons per 90. So he's really aggressive in attacking the wide spaces. But on the surface of it, it's a bit of an odd transfer given that Barcelona have such attacking riches in these areas already. There's a good convincing argument that Rafinha and Yamal were the most convincing dynamic wide duo last season. Rafinha had the most goal contributions in any Champions League campaign ever joined with Ronaldo. So by contrast, Williams had six goals. So it kind of seems like, well on paper to simply substitute in Williams for Rafinha. Doesn't really seem like there's room for him like that. But as we know this Barcelona system with Flick, it's very fluid, very dynamic. And as Phil would know from his time covering Leeds, Raphinha is a wonderfully versatile player, comfortable across the whole width of the front line and at Allen Road he was primarily a right winger and started this season. Last season for Barcelona he was attacking midfielder for a lot. So when we actually look at profiling him, he likes to Drift in a lot more into the middle than Yamal does. And whereas Nico Williams is very much your out and out wide attacking winger, really likes to drive down the line rather than cutting field. So I think with Rafinha drifting in, that kind of allows room for Williams to play on that side with him. So that's kind of probably what they'll do. But, yeah, it's another good option for Flick to have.
- [19:42]
Ayo Akimolere
It's very good options for Flick to have. Phil, you know, we talk about this player, we've waxed lyrics about how good he is. You know, we've seen it in the Euros, especially against England, you know, Are you surprised by his ascent? I know last season that wasn't necessarily a good sample size, but I feel like this is a special player Barcelona potentially could be getting.
- [20:06]
Phil Hay
I think he does have the potential to be special. I wouldn't say surprised by his ascent because he's. He's 22, so by. By no means a late developer, but not in the Lamine Jamal bracket of. Should still be at school doing his gcse. You know, he's got a bit more mileage behind him than that, but. But I sort of never forget that in the final of the Euros Euro 2024, it wasn't Rodri who was man of the match got injured. Obviously it wasn't Yamal either. It was Nico Williams and he was properly excellent at that tournament. And I'm actually quite surprised that it's taken 12 months since then for somebody to go all in on him. And I wanted to ask Paul about this because I just wonder whether you think that Williams has been holding out for Barcelona right from the very start. Do you think this was his preference all along? Because. But I'm assuming Barca couldn't actually have signed him last season if they wanted almost. Say, if they wanted almost in front of somebody like Williams, a player of that skill set, then they didn't really seem to have the money to do almost. So it's hard to understand how they could have. Could have done both. But you were talking about William's salary. It's clearly chunky and a lot to take on. But the release clause actually isn't all that wild, is it, by current standards of transfer fees. And I really thought that an opportunistic club would have got in there last summer and would have got it done. Would have said, this is a guy that is definitely worth investing in and definitely a bit of a future investment and why not take him on? Was he happy to buy this time? Do you think in the hope that it would happen this summer.
- [21:36]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
I think that deep down the thing is that it's not an easy signing to pull off. What I said about the one off payment and the big salary, it just takes a lot. Not like every club in the world can afford it. And then last summer, basically he had doubt pick because Athletic Club is like a different world inside the Spanish football and the sort of mentality inside the fans. The culture in Bilbao around the club is just. Yeah, just different. The sense of belonging. He has a lot of family ties, not just to the club, but to the area as well. With his brother, with the history, the background that they have, his brother was about to be like in the captain's group in the team. If it wasn't in a way for Athletic Club, it would have been more difficult for the Williams just to break through in the football stage as they have done it. So there was an emotional connection to that. Plus they had the Europa League quest with the final in St. Mames, which was something that was really written down in the mind of every Athletic Club player. They wanted to do well in that competition and they believed that they could do something big. Then they won the Copa del Rey the season before, which was the first trophy in like many years in Bilbao. And the sort of celebrations, yeah, in a way that let all the players know the importance of playing for Athletic. They could feel that they were in a big club. They feel all the Athletic Club fans, that they are like one of the biggest clubs in the world and they have the right to believe so in the sort of like different club that they are. So Williams, I think that he was genuinely like attracted by this and he felt that he could like keep blossoming and like becoming a top player by staying at Athletic Bilbao. But I think that after last season where possibly the expectation, what he did at the Euros, it didn't make him a favor into like shining at his best, especially at the start of the season. And then he goes with the national team and he is back at his best and he plays his best football. He realized that possibly playing with these sort of players, it helps him just to bring the best version out of him. And as I was saying, it wasn't an easy decision for him to make. One, because the salary, because the transfer was a tough one to pull off, and then two, because of the ties, the emotional ties that he has with Bilbao and with Athletic.
- [23:54]
Phil Hay
So just on that point, you know the story over the weekend about a number of fans defacing the mural of him In Bilbao. Is that because he's going to Barcelona, that is one of the big Spanish clubs, or is it because he's leaving full stop?
- [24:09]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
I would say, and that's possibly more my opinion because I'm not from Bilbao and I don't have the full grasp of it, but I would say that it is because he's going to Barcelona, because he's going to the club that is making things look a bit silly in Spanish football. Because they get away with it every summer. Because they were annoying to the athletic fan base last summer trying to pursue Nico Williams to the very end of the transfer window and because the relationships in the institutional layer between Barcelona and Athletic Club are in a tough spot, are not in the best place right now. So it's basically, yeah, him joining a sort of enemy in the Spanish league.
- [24:49]
Ayo Akimolere
I wanted to touch on something because you spoke about the culture there in Atlantic Bilbao. I'm just fascinated and it just got me thinking of actually a piece that Rory Smith did for the New York Times on the amount of players from that territory, which is only 1.4% of Spanish landmass have actually produced a quarter of players that have played for the Spanish national team. What's the education there? Like, what's. What are they drinking? What's in the water? Because we haven't even spoken about the managerial talent they've also produced as well.
- [25:17]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. One thing that, that I love about the Basque country is that I'm not saying that it's bad to have cities with like two clubs because it's lovely as well, but those are cities. If you go to Bilbao, you're going to be an athletic fan and everyone is just involved with athletic in all layers of like society. Not just like football, but embracing what athletic means on a weekly basis and giving a focus at the end of the week and everyone being represented by the club. So the fact of clubs being representing for one whole city for me is a big part of all players wanting to dreaming with representing this club. Their biggest expression is to play for Athletic club for real. Sofiad for Ivan Osasuna, because they are big clubs in their society and really important in the community. That's one. And then, I mean, that's what happened in, in Spain. It's just a source of talent, like an endless source of talent. I think that the good thing that football has is that you can play it. Like you don't need money to play football. You just need like, just a street, a plastic ball. If you wanna. If you wanna say it and a group of friends just to have a kick about. And. And yeah, I think that in a way the culture around football and the education around. Around football is, yeah, amazing in all sides of Spain and in the Basque country with the fact of that athletic Bilbo players, the officer players and Osasuna players are like role models in that societies and in that city. It just gives you like an extra boost to try to be a player and just to try to do your best to play for them.
- [26:47]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, interesting. Let's talk about a player, Conor, that we've not spoken about and you know, is currently playing for Barca, a bit older than most of them, in fairness, is Robert Lewandowski and what this potentially could mean for him. I know he's actually got maybe a year left on his contract, but, you know, would this be a better fit if you sort of take him out of that picture and then you've got this sort of different approach where you've maybe got like a false nine with Alma and then Ralphinha and then Williams on one side and then obviously Yamin Amal on the other.
- [27:17]
Connor O'Neill
Yeah, I think that's definitely an attractive appeal, that kind of PSG system where, you know, it's a bunch of kind of wide players, attacking midfielders who are all coming in from different angles, interchanging and just causing chaos with the unpredictability. And certainly if those issues with Lewandowski, the fitness issues from the tail end crunch end of the season persists, that's definitely an attractive system for them and how difficult it is replacing center forwards on the market currently. So instead recreating him in the aggregate in that way. But as well as that, it's already suffocating for defenders. Playing Barca with that high line, that aggressive approach, and suddenly you're having to mark Yamal, Rafinha and Williams within the space of 10 minutes. You know, that's a daunting, daunting prospect. But I do think Flick will target Williams for what we know he's good at and that's staying out wide, stretching the opposition and taking on his man. Barcelona's attacking system last season was excellent. Best in Europe based on just goals alone, over 100. But one criticism that maybe like one small criticism that that can be leveled at them is maybe they were a bit too narrow and predictable against, you know, the low block teams. No team followed more attacks through the middle than Barcelona. So it is a tiny. The system's really food and dynamic, but it's tiny bit predictable in that sense. So I Think with Williams providing them that width, that thread out wide along with Yamal on the other side, suddenly that's another option. They don't always have to do the quick interchanges through the middle of the dynamic rotations. They have that ability to stretch the game and hurt oppositions from other angles. So I think that dynamic system will work, but probably in the short term it will just be Williams will stick out wide and maybe go into the. And Lewandowski might fall out of the picture. You might see that kind of more dynamic system evolve.
- [29:02]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, Paul, the Lewandowski thing is interesting because this is still a player that scored 42 goals in all competitions, 27 in La Liga is still a useful weapon for them. But as Conor's saying, it actually brings Barcelona into much more of a narrow kind of playing field because obviously he's such a typical center forward. So you have to either pay out one and then whip it in centrally or basically funnel your play through the middle. But I mean it's a wonderful problem to have. But could we be, could we start to see the sort of phasing out of Robert Lewandowski and who knows if he'll even get a deal again?
- [29:34]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
No, but that's clear a plan that inside the glove basically they have it and they think about it. Part of the signing of Williams, as Conor was saying here, is just Raphinha played basically as an under 10 this season a lot because he has cut inside a lot. But the plan with Nick Williams used to. Yeah, just to let Raphinha be more of a free roaming number 10, something like this. Then Deco spoke last week on an interview to local outlet La Banguardi and they basically said that they would like as well to play with Dani Olma as a false nine that they count on. Of course Lewandowski getting older and possibly not keeping up with the same numbers, which is a total. No. A totally normal thing. No sort of trying to take a look at Lewandowski here but that's something that is expected in the club and even like you can expect Raphinha not to have the same numbers because they were ridiculous last season. And the most normal thing is that even like he's a world class player, those numbers, they are not going to be repeated season after season. So if you count on this and then it's something that has been stuck on Flick's mind last season when they had to play against Inter, Real Madrid and Inter this succession of big games at crunch time last season, Lewandowski was out injured, he had a back like hamstring problem. And then basically Flick was left with Rafinha, Ferran, Torres, Elaminjamal for all those three games. And when he looked at the bench, there was Ansu, Fati and Palpitor, which are players that possibly are not at the same level. And Flick didn't have the same level of throw. So so basically he felt that he lacked depth in that position. That when you look at wingers, there's, I'm going to say only, I mean of course any club in the world would like to have them, but they only have Raphinha and La Mina. You probably need another one in there just to. Yeah, the season is very long. You're playing three competitions and a bit of depth in that in there is like required. And I agree with the fact that Nico Williams is going to be used as an out out winger just to stay out wide on the left hand side just to provide with because the only play that could provide that on a regular basis was, was like Laminal. And I do think that Laminal has a future of Barcelona drifting inside. I think that he has all the, all the capacities. I think that he would like to do that as well. And it's something that we are going to see progressively in the future. So if you have Nico out wide, possibly it's a way that you can allow Laminal to drift inside at some point.
- [32:03]
Ayo Akimolere
Okay. I mean look, Williams, Yamal, Pedri, Kobasi, Gavi. I mean the list goes on of young, young talent. The future looks bright. Anyway, Conor, let's leave you to it. Appreciate your time and thanks for that insight as well, brother. Right, coming up, we'll discuss what other business Barcelona might do in this summer window.
- [32:30]
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- [33:48]
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- [34:23]
Ayo Akimolere
This is the Athletic FC podcast with.
- [34:25]
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IO Acemolara.
- [34:30]
Ayo Akimolere
Well Paul, we mentioned earlier that Barca have already made their first signing 21.4 million pounds for the 24 year old Juan Garcia. Paul Garcia has become our first team player or the first player to join Barca after their city rivals Espanyol in 31 years and also just the 15th to ever do so at senior level. I mean what has been the reaction to this? But also we need to talk about Ter Stegen and what this means for his position as well.
- [34:57]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
I mean the reaction has been heated in the city because Espanol fans are not used to see that and they have not been happy to see his main player, his star player and academy player going to their biggest rivals. But leaving that aside, Barcelona just saw in Juan Garcia top market opportunity. They knew that they had to do something in the goalkeeping area. The state is 33 then you have Chesney last season which is old as well. Inaki Pena is expected to leave the club. So in a way you need to do something in there and Joan Garcia was available now if you didn't sign him now he would have gone to somewhere else. People at the club try to resemble this with the Mamataj Billy signing for Liverpool knowing that Liverpool of course they have alisson but they needed to start thinking about the succession plan and that's what they did but with intention of giving John Garcia the number one. Basically they don't want to do a martajbili of loaning him out for one of a season and then like taking him back in the. In the following year, Joan Garcia is expected to be given the chance to challenge for the number one spot, which is basically leaving the club captain, Marc Andretta Teres Tegan in the toughest spot. Because you speak to people of the club, they would be happy to offload Tereste and even on a free transfer just like to get his wages off the books. And because they believe that they have a goalkeeper for the long term in Joan Garcia now.
- [36:25]
Ayo Akimolere
Well, Ter Stegen potentially not a Barcelona. Well, actually I'm going to give a cheeky plug to some we've got coming up on the Athletic because speaking of players crossing the divided line to join the rivals, check out our summer series on this feed. Transfers that Shook the World Episode 1 on Fernando Torres. His move from Liverpool to Chelsea is out right now. All right, Phil, let's talk about Barcelona. Let's get back to it because look, we've talked about the amount of players they have at their disposal, especially young players. So this feels like a team that's sort of built for the future. But can we expect any more incomings today? Need any more incomings after such an.
- [37:01]
Phil Hay
Amazing season last year, do they need any more? Luis Diaz is the one that interests me at Liverpool because he surely won't be that cheap and also because I guess the one thing that Hansi Flick has to be conscious of is not having more attacking players than he can realistically keep happy. And Paul was sort of highlighting that point at which the resources ran very bare at Barcelona and it was a really problematic period. But they have got a lot of high caliber footballers and if you add Diaz to that, another one who would absolutely expect to play. I think they've been really savvy with the goalkee. I feel quite sorry for Ter Stegen because it does feel as if he's been forced out to a certain degree and it does feel pretty ruthless, but I guess that's football and neither him nor Chesney are getting younger. Garcia will give them an option for four years going forward and looks like really, really good value. I would say at the price they've been able to get him. I'm struggling. Given that we were talking at the start about levers and finances and everything else, I'm struggling slightly to see how Barca would have the funds to do anything more major, although there do always seem to be avenues to exploit. But the thing that really interests me from this point, and you guys touched on it, is the succession plan for Lewandowski. Will they do a world class number nine centre forward to try and replace him? Will they move to a different system given his contract is up in 2026? It's going to be quite a big decision, you know, for Barca to make sure that they don't commit to him beyond the point where he starts to fade. And again, as Paul sort of reference, that is going to happen inevitably at some point. But also given the way things are these days and the way the market's working, it surely can't be that long before Lewandowski is getting tempted by Saudi Arabia or MLS or somewhere like that. So that would seem to be kind of obvious move for him somewhere down the line. I think what isn't quite clear yet or isn't clear to me anyway, and perhaps Polkin can properly fill the blank here is how Barca will cope when a striker who is still scoring a phenomenal number of goals, I mean truly phenomenal, Even though he's 36, you know, finally packs up and leaves.
- [39:08]
Ayo Akimolere
Yeah, it's Fernand Torres, like the kind of player that Barca Field can hold the line in the same way with such potency because he has the back end of last season. You know, he seemed to come up clutch for Barca a few times.
- [39:19]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
Yeah, I mean he had an outstanding season last year. But I don't think that as much as Ferrantros is a very useful squad member and a player that is happy with the role that he's been given, I don't think that he's seen as an elite caliber, sort of a striker or player. What he's really been seeing is as a number nine. If you speak to Barcelona, they don't catalog him as a winger at the minute they catalog him as a number nine. They prefer him in that position. And he fits a lot with Flick's style in terms of how good he press, how willing he is just to work off the ball. That's something that Flick really wants and that's something as well that has played against Lewandowski in terms of like sometimes fleek. Want like the front line to be relentless and just to press and just to be. And Lewandowski, he doesn't have possibly the like the body capacities just to keep up with these sort of levels at the biggest stage. And that's something. That's why when you speak with people at the club, they take it for. Given that this is the last season of Lewandowski at the club and then, and I don't want to like fuel this sort of like top end rumors with Barcelona. But again, inside the group, there's one clear name that is the candidate. If they have to replace Lewandowski and they have to go after a big name, there's one clear name in there which is not going to be cheap, which is liked by everyone in the world, but that is driving Laporte crazy. And Hansje Flicklovsky as well, which is Julian Alvarez.
- [40:45]
Ayo Akimolere
Ah, really? From at that time.
- [40:47]
Phil Hay
Wow.
- [40:47]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
Yeah, he is. Wow. He's the name that they love. They would, yeah, they would love to have him as a number nine, but yeah, Atletico signed him for 75 million.
- [40:57]
Phil Hay
That's going to be next summers. Leave us, Paul, get the article going.
- [41:01]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't want to talk too loud about this because, I mean, this is not going to happen this summer and I'm going to have plenty of work this summer. It's something that, yeah, we should write this name down because it's going to be on La Porto's mind in the near future for sure. So let's see what happens in there. Let's all assume that this is Lewandowski last season at Barcelona. You feel we're speaking about Luis Diaz? I mean, it's going to be. Or Luis Diaz or Nico Williams. There's no wall that both of them are coming in. So I think that for one of them there's still room in this team. And yeah, let's see what happens in the near future. But next summer is going to be like the number nine talk and potentially like a center back talk as well because Inigo Martinez is going to be a bit older and they are going to need to look an established partnership for Paul Guerci.
- [41:49]
Ayo Akimolere
Okay, well, you should have just stopped talking when you said Julian Alvarez. Mate, you had us all gasping. Well done, Paul. All right, nice one, gent. So let's end it there. Phil, Paul, and also Connor who joins us earlier. Thank you so much for your time. We'll be back soon.
- [42:03]
Athletic FC Podcast Host
The Athletic FC Podcast Network.
- [42:11]
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Athletic FC Podcast Host
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