Overview

• Barcelona had agreed to pay Athletic Bilbao’s €62 million release clause and scheduled Williams’s medical exam.
• Félix Tainta, Williams’s trusted agent and family confidant, led renewed talks after last summer’s failed bid.
• A WhatsApp message advising Williams to ditch Tainta for Jorge Mendes or Pini Zahavi sparked outrage in his family.
• That direct intervention permanently fractured Williams’s trust and halted the transfer at the final stage.
• He signed a new contract that ties him to Athletic Bilbao until 2035, ending speculation about a move to Catalonia.