Athletic Club winger Nico Williams not closing the door on Barça move

FC Barcelona are not resting. Proof of this is that the summer market for next season 2024-25 is already being scouted. The new director of football, Deco -- who was officially presented on Wednesday as one of the new additions to the new sporting structure -- has begun to pull strings indirectly to look at possible signings. One of them could be Nico Williams. 

The team are looking for a pure winger on the left flank -- on the right they have Raphinha and the latest jewel of La Masia, Lamine Yamal -- who can beat an opponent and with 'hunger' to aspire to all the collective and individual titles. They have put the focus on the speedy Athletic forward.

Nico Williams is among Barcelona's priorities because of his exceptional talent, demonstrated in the Athletic shirt and also with the Spanish senior national team, but also because of his youth (he turned 21 in July) and... because he will be free on 30 June 2024. As a result, he has everything that the Catalan giants are looking for (good and cheap) in these times of economic precariousness.

Sounded out

So far, as SPORT contributor Alfredo Martínez reported Thursday, Barça have called Nico Williams' agent, Félix Tainta. The Catalan club are aware that Athletic have already been working for some time to renew his deal, but they want the player's camp to know that he is on the list of options, something that the player does not close the doors to.

If Nico does not reach an agreement with the Bilbao club in the next three and a half months, Barça could start negotiating with the player from 1 January 2024.

In any case, Athletic will not give in so easily and are looking for ways to convince the player to extend his commitment to the team for a few years. One of them would be to maintain his termination clause (50 million euros) so as not to stop any really interested club in the coming years and, another, to offer him a contract of between two and three years. In this way, at the age of 24 or 25, he could become a free agent again and then make the leap to a top team.

Liked

Barcelona, and especially their coach Xavi Hernandez, would be a perfect fit for a player like Nico Williams to open up the field on the left wing. On the right, they already have Lamine Yamal. Moreover, as was seen recently in the last match of the Spanish national team, against Cyprus in the Nuevo Los Cármenes stadium in Granada, the two formed a good attacking partnership and showed depth and overflow.

Incidentally, Nico ended the Euro 2024 qualifier injured. In one of his explosive runs he suffered a contracture in his right medial adductor "which prevents him from training with the rest of the team," Athletic said Thursday, after an initial ultrasound scan and then an MRI scan.

Barça, who have other wingers on the agenda, appreciate the growth that Nico has experienced since 28 April 2021, when he made his Primera Division debut in a 2-2 draw between Athletic and Valladolid under Marcelino García Toral. He was 18 years old and that day the Williams brothers (Iñaki also played) took over, 35 years later, from the last pair of brothers to wear the Athletic shirt at the same time: the Salinas (Patxi and Julio).

Interest

In addition to Barcelona, the future of Nico Williams is of particular interest to several Premier League teams. Due to his characteristics, he would be ideal for the football played in England. Aston Villa, Liverpool and Newcastle are three of the teams that are following the player.