'Nico Williams' agent wouldn't have fooled me!' - Barcelona criticised over fumbling of winger's transfer as ex-president who signed Diego Maradona and Rivaldo issues warning to Athletic Club over mega extension

Joan Gaspart, who served as Barcelona's president from 2000 to 2003, shared his opinions on the club's failure to secure the signing of Nico Williams. The former chief criticised the Catalans for their handling of the deal, while also warning Athletic Club of falling prey to their own success of extending the winger's contract.

After being unable to sign him last summer, Barcelona looked primed to sign Williams this summer, with reports claiming that the player made the first move and initiated contact with the Catalans. Despite news of Barca not returning to the 1:1 financial rule just yet, Williams agreed personal terms over a six-year contract. However, late in June, pessimism surrounding the deal started growing, with Williams' agent Felix Tainta demanding the La Liga champions insert a "free release clause" in his contract in case the club failed to register him. Barca, however, did not cave in to their demands, with the 22-year-old eventually signing a mega 10-year contract with the Basque outfit with a much higher release clause.

Speaking on the 'Solo para cules' podcast, Gaspart started off by speaking about the repercussions of Williams' mega extension at Athletic Club next season. "Nico is a great player, but now the problem is Bilbao," he said. "When the players realise they're earning half, half, half of what Nico earns, they're not going to like it. And the fans, if this player doesn't score 50 goals, they're going to boo him, right?"

Then, he proceeded to point fingers at the Barcelona management. "There was no passion, and it's not a criticism of [sporting director] Deco, who is a professional who is at Barcelona today and might be at another team tomorrow that pays him more," Gaspart said. "I wasn't paid for what I did. I did it out of passion. And when you do it with passion, it's very difficult for things to slip away."

He also compared the Joan Laporta's current stint with his own, when he signed some legendary figures when he was vice-president from 1978 to 2000, and then the president for the next three years.

"Barcelona is a club of passion. And passion isn't instilled by a professional, it's carried by the one who has it," he said. "The one who doesn't get paid to be a Barca fan. Don't tell me stories! I've signed [Diego] Maradona, Rivaldo, [Andoni] Zubizarreta, [Jose Mari] Bakero... I've signed them and nothing like that has ever happened to me... That intermediary Nico Williams has wouldn't have fooled me."

Hansi Flick's troops will return to pre-season training mid-July, before taking a tour to South Korea and Japan at the end of the month. They have been linked with Luis Diaz and Marcus Rashford following the rejection from Williams, although it seems the former is inching closer to a move to Bayern Munich.