The Russian club Zenit Saint -Petersburg recently donated – via the Tiktok platform – a sum in support of FC Barcelona to contribute to the payment of the release clause of Nico Williams (fixed around € 58 million) and help the Catalan club concluded its transfer, at a time when an agreement with the player exists around a 6 -year contract. In its official communications, Zenit justified this gesture by recalling a symbolic debt towards Barça: “You gave us Malcom, happy to help you”in reference to the Brazilian striker from Barcelona in 2019 to join Saint -Pétersburg.
Sportingly, this intervention has no direct impact on the legal obligation of Barça: the Athletic Bilbao requires the full settlement of the Williams clause, and the Catalan club works according to the media on a spread of payments, but the amount must be paid entirely to finalize the transfer. The Zenit initiative remains above all a gesture of symbolic appearance, useful for strengthening communication around the file, but does not modify the real financial constraints of Barça against Bilbao.
