Athletic Club president Jon Uriarte has admitted that the club’s relationship with Barcelona is “cold” after a summer which saw the Catalans heavily linked with a move for Nico Williams.
The Spain star got things started by asking his agent to meet with Deco, before eventually deciding to stay at Athletic and sign a long-term contract.
Uriarte has now spoken about the summer’s activities and admits relations between the two clubs aren’t the best.
“Our custom is not to give details of transactions, and
I don’t usually get involved in the conversations. I haven’t spoken with Laporta either before or after Nico’s renewal. Relations with Barça are cold, but cordial and respectful. We respect Barça and we have nothing against them,” he stated.
The Athletic chief also spoke about the club’s decision to meet with La Liga at a time when Barcelona were rumored to be willing to activate Williams’ release clause
“What we did was a visit to LaLiga officials to discuss many pending issues between the club and the management, and on the other hand, we wanted to be sure that the regulations were being followed, given the information being published about restrictions on signings, or registrations, by some clubs,” he added.
“At no point during that meeting was LaLiga sharing confidential information with Athletic. Nor was it necessary.”
Barcelona and Athletic are due to meet for the first time this season on November 23rd.
