Nico Williams transfer roundup: Barcelona lead pursuit of Spain star for Euro 2024, Arsenal and Liverpool remain interested as Athletic Bilbao issue statement

Nico Williams has enjoyed an impressive breakout campaign with Spain at Euro 2024, and his future will be one of the talking points of the summer.

The Athletic Bilbao winger has shone on the left flank of Luis de la Fuente's trident in Germany, destroying teams with his speed and direct play.

It has helped propel them to another European Championship final, where they will play England. Live on talkSPORT.

And as soon as the tournament is over, there will surely be plenty of clubs ready to swoop in and snap up Williams.

Here, talkSPORT.com looks at the candidates for Williams' signature.

Barcelona

The clear favourites to sign Williams this summer are Barcelona.

The LaLiga giants have identified the 21-year-old as a priority target and want to overhaul his glittering international partnership with Yamal sheet.

For Spain, Williams and the 17-year-old have formed a good bond and complement each other very well.

La Liga president Javier Tebas has confirmed that he has a release clause in his contract and that Barcelona could sign him.

This is because they are close to resolving their financial situation, which has limited their ability to sign players.

5

Speaking of Williams, Thebes said“You have to think that with Barcelona's effort to reduce its wage bill by more than 200 million and other measures that have already been taken within the club and that have nothing to do with the levers, they can perfectly bring in a player like Nico Williams.

“Barça could reach those figures, which are perfectly acceptable if they are within the 1:1 norm. It is a club that is close to a billion in turnover, it can be on that path.”

Therefore, if Barcelona manage to continue reducing their wage bill, they will be in a position to sign Williams.

Arsenal

talkSPORT understands Arsenal are One of the teams following in Williams' footsteps after his great season with Bilbao.

The winger directly contributed to 19 league goals and is a player Mikel Arteta admire.

Gabriel Martinelli was not at his best last year, so a new left winger is a possibility for the Gunners.

However, Arsenal's main problem when it comes to signing Williams is his salary.

Because Bilbao only recruit players from the Basque region, they don't tend to spend much, although they do earn a lot in the transfer market, meaning they can allocate their finances to wages.

As a result, he earns around £180,000-a-week, which could rule him out of the Gunners, especially as he would be competing with Martinelli and Leandro Trossard for minutes.

5

Chelsea

Once again, talkSPORT understands that Chelsea They are interested in signing Williams.

The Blues already have a wide variety of attacking options, but if they decide to move someone, there should be room in Enzo MarescaThe template for this incredibly exciting winger.

But the Blues could face a battle to convince the winger to join them given they can only offer Europa Conference League football.

Meanwhile, Barcelona and Arsenal can offer Champions League football.

As things stand, the Blues' interest has not turned into a formal offer, and they are likely to wait and see what happens with Barcelona and Williams before deciding to take things any further.

5

Liverpool

Finally, talkSPORT understands that Liverpool They are also interested, but face two problems if they want to sign the Spaniard.

Firstly, his salary is likely to cause them problems, as he would automatically become one of the Reds' highest-paid players.

Plus there's the fact that Liverpool have plenty of players who can play on the left, including Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota.

So unless one of those goes away, it's hard to see how… Arne's SlotWilliams' men find room for Williams despite his £47m release clause looking attractive.

5

Athletic Bilbao

Of course, there is still a strong chance that Williams will remain in Bilbao and judging by their latest statement, they are determined to keep him.

They said: “Nico, a footballer who is very committed to Athletic Club, has been the subject of a bombardment of questions about his future in an excessive and uncontrolled manner, when he is concentrated to play in the European Championship by the Spanish Football Federation, which has not known how to protect him.

“Athletic aims for the maximum, without limits. We are showing that we have an attractive and winning project for our players and coach. The proof is that we have recently renewed two of our international contracts, Simón (2029) and Vivian (2031), Nico.

“He signed last year until 2027, and other highly sought-after players such as Oihan Sancet, Benat Prados, Julen Agirrezabala and Aitor Paredes, to name a few, have also committed for several seasons.

“Athletic Club is capable, economically, socially and sportingly, of maintaining in its structure footballers of the calibre of those named, including Nico Williams.”