"Laporta has said that the signing of Nico is possible, but at the moment it's not possible"

Businessman Victor Font, the main rival in the elections for Barcelona president Joan Laporta, said on Thursday that at present the Catalan club "cannot afford to sign Nico Williams".

He said this in a statement to 'The Athletic', in which he admitted that he agrees with the need to sign the Athletic Club winger, but that the economic reality is different.

"I wish we could sign Nico Williams because that is what we need. The president has said it's possible, but that's not true. Today, it can't be done. We hope it will be possible tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. But today, it is not," he stressed. These statements are in line with those published by media such as 'COPE', 'AS' and 'Mundo Deportivo', who see the player moving further and further away from the Camp Nou.

As for Barca's financial situation, Font insists that it is "worse now than when Laporta arrived", as Barca have "more debts, fewer assets and we are still not generating profits to pay off the debt and protect our membership model (meaning that the members own the club)".

Font called the Barca Studios project - the plan devised by Laporta in 2022 to sell a stake in the club's future media revenues to raise funds, most of which never arrived - a failure. And he insists that for that reason the club generated a €100m hole in Barca's accounts last season, which means it cannot register players as it is in breach of La Liga's financial fair play.