Matteo Moretto gives Football España exclusive information on the latest deals dominating the papers in Spain, as revealed in Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefing.
Atletico Madrid deal for Dani Olmo cold amid Barcelona and Bayern Munich interest
Dani Olmo is a player who is highly valued by Barcelona, and for me, I don’t think there is any possibility at the moment of him going to Atletico Madrid, despite reports in Spain that they were favourites to sign him earlier this week. To date, Barcelona’s priority is to sign Nico Williams, so with Olmo there is nothing that advanced yet.
I would also keep an eye on Bayern Munich as they could be his next destination. They are paying very close attention to Olmo’s situation – Bayern like him a lot and have done so for a long time. At Bayern he has many admirers within the club too. After his €60m release clause expired yesterday, now whoever wants him will have to negotiate with Leipzig to get a deal done.
Barcelona seeking alternative method of activating Nico Williams release clause
Barcelona is looking for a way to pay the release clause for Athletic Club’s Nico Williams, even without an imminent sale. Then the sale may come after a deal for Wiliams. As we’ve been reporting, Barcelona need an exit before a big outlay, so they are looking for a way around that to move for the 21-year-old first. But Barcelona’s attention is now focused on Nico Williams ahead of all other issues.
There have also been conversations between Nico’s entourage and the Barcelona Sporting Director Deco to get closer to each other on contractual matters. The next few days could well be very important, one way or another. As for the exits, I can tell you that there will undoubtedly be some exits at Barcelona, and particularly if Nico arrives at the club, someone in the forward line will not be able to stay, however at the back I expect that they will find a solution is for Clement Lenglet to leave the club.
Plenty of interest in Mikel Merino, but no concrete offers
Spain and Real Sociedad star Mikel Merino wants to think carefully about which path to take. He has decided not to renew with La Real, but he also wants Real to win from his transfer. He feels that he needs to try a new project both from a personal and professional point of view.
At the moment, the team that have been most insistent in trying to bring in Merino are Atletico Madrid, who are trying to include Merino in a deal that has already been done for Robin Le Normand for around €30m with Real Sociedad. Barcelona are currently focused on Nico Williams, and Arsenal have made some calls, some enquiries, but there are no official offers yet for Merino as of yet.
Matteo Moretto will be back with more transfer news in the coming days, providing exclusive information on the biggest stories in Spain and Italy.
