One of the stars of Euro 2024 appears to have made up his mind. And that is bad news for his array of Premier League suitors.
HITC reported last week that, talks have been held with Arsenal, Newcastle United, Liverpool and an Aston Villa side who reportedly submitted a £45 million bid for their long-standing transfer target last January, per the Daily Mail.
History looks likely to repeat itself for Villa, however, with their top-flight rivals also likely to end up disappointed.
And not just because Nico Williams, HITC understands, has left his suitors shocked by demanding an eye-watering £300,000-a-week wage at his next club. The Athletic Bilbao speedster has his heart set on Barcelona.
As anyone who has watched Williams and Lamine Yamal tear full-backs limb from limb at the European Championships will tell you, this is a partnership with infinite potential.
Ripping into defences like the red arrows in full flight, whoever said Spain can only play one way?
Arsenal and Liverpool among Nico Williams’ suitors
The searing pace and devastating directness of Williams and 16-year-old Yamal have transformed a usually possession-obsessed Spain side into arguably the tournament’s most thrilling side in quick transitions too.
And the understanding between Williams and Yamal would only grow if the former joins the latter at the Camp Nou. Williams is keen to make the move happen. And so is a man – or kid, really – who became the youngest to ever feature at a Euros during Spain’s 3-0 curtain-raising thrashing of Croatia.
“Yes, I wish Nico could come to Barca,” Yamal tells Diario Sport.
“At the first meeting, I met Nico and then we became very good friends. We get along very well. You can see that on the pitch too, that we are very close, that we are very good friends. And that is the most important thing to have the connection on the pitch.”
HITC understands that Williams is Barcelona’s first-choice target this summer. A left winger by trade, the Athletic academy graduate would likely fill a spot vacated by Joao Felix with the Portuguese playmaker heading back to Atletico Madrid after the expiration of his season-long loan deal.
Barcelona the dream move for Spain Euro 2024 star
There had been concerns over Williams’ end product not so long ago. But with eight goals and a remarkable 19 assists for Athletic in 2023/24, those fears have been emphatically dispelled with every power-packed finish and every eviscerating drive into the box.
The relative elder statesman of Spain’s wing duo at the age of 21, the often ‘unstoppable’ Williams has been reluctant to give anything away in public even if, in private, it appears he is keen to link up with Yamal on a weekly basis in red-and-blue.
“(Every rumour) is good. It means I’m doing my job well. Every kid dreams of being noticed by big clubs,” Williams explains to La Vanguardia.
“I’m focused on doing well at the European Championship. And whatever comes after that I’ll find out, because these days I’m totally disconnected.
“(Yamal and I) get along very well. We’re not just team-mates, we’re also friends, and I think that’s something that also matters when it comes to leading a team to the big time.
“We started talking and we saw that we had a lot of similar topics of conversation. That’s also when the banter started and now I think we have a nice relationship.”
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