Barcelona have seemingly taken a major step in the right direction in their pursuit of top transfer target Nico Williams.

The 21-year-old is at the top of the Blaugrana’s wishlist this summer as they seek a top signing to reinforce the left flank.

The Spanish international is also attracting interest from other big clubs like Liverpool, Chelsea, and Bayern Munich. But Barcelona appear to have taken the lead in the race.

Agreement in principle reached

Indeed, according to SPORT, Barcelona have reached an agreement in principle with Nico Williams over the personal terms of his contract.

The Catalan giants met with the Spanish winger’s agent, Felix Tainta, last week to discuss the operation and it ended with the two parties finalising the terms of his agreement.

While the exact details of his wages and the length of the contract are not available yet, there is an agreement in principle between Barça and Nico, meaning the club are one step closer to signing him.

What is the next step?

Now, all that is left for the transfer to be completed is a definitive agreement between Barcelona and Nico Williams’ team, Athletic Club.

From now on, Barça will have to work on two key points to make the signing a reality – the payment of Williams’ €58 million release clause and the registration of the player once the club opens a gap in the tight salary margin.

Athletic Club have made it abundantly clear that they will not negotiate a lower fee and that any team wanting to sign Barcelona must pay his €58 million termination clause in full.

So, the doors are closed for Barcelona to find formulas that would allow them to split the payment of the transfer fee as the club had thought at first.

However, it must be noted that the Blaugrana need to move quickly to finalise everything as Nico, despite being committed to joining them fully, will not wait for too long and wants the matter settled as soon as possible.