Barcelona held talks with Nico Williams’ agent on Friday where it was made clear that the Athletic Bilbao winger is keen to play for the Catalan club.
Arsenal and Chelsea both have long-standing interest in Williams and have considered a move for the Spain international this summer.
However, Bayern Munich are also in the market for a new winger following Leroy Sane’s decision and the Bundesliga champions made an approach for Williams this week.
It’s understood that Williams would be open to joining Bayern, although his salary demands of €380,000 (£322,000) a week could prove to be an obstacle.
Bayern, as well as Barcelona, Arsenal and Chelsea, would need to meet the €58 million (£48.1m) release clause in his deal with Bilbao.
Get personalised updates on Arsenal everyday
Wake up to find news on your club in your inbox every morning with Metro’s Football Newsletter.
Sign up to our newsletter and then select your team in the link we’ll send you so we can get football news tailored to you.
Mundo Deportivo report that Barcelona are also in the running to sign Williams and the player’s agent, Felix Tainta, met with Barca’s sporting director, Deco, on Friday.
The report claims that the message during the meeting was clear that Williams would be ‘eager’ to join Barca this summer.
However, Barcelona’s first-choice option to strengthen Hansi Flick’s attacking options remains Luis Diaz, although they are refusing to pay more than €60m (£51m) for the Liverpool winger.
That figure would represent a significant profit for Liverpool, who signed Diaz for an initial £37m fee from Porto in January 2022.
Barcelona have also not ruled out the prospect of signing Marcus Rashford having met with the England international’s brother and agent last month.
Manchester United are keen to sell Rashford this summer and are demanding a £40m fee. Barca, meanwhile, would prefer to sign the 27-year-old on loan with the option to buy next year.
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.