Aston Villa are reportedly in a three-way race with Barcelona and Liverpool for the signing of Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams.
Athletic Bilbao head coach Ernesto Valverde has confirmed they are aware of the growing transfer interest in the player as one of the highly-rated young talents in La Liga. However, with his contract at the Estadio San Mames expiring in 2024, the Basque club could be challenged in their attempts to keep hold of the academy starlet.
According to Spanish outlet AS Diario, Aston Villa are among a few clubs lurking on the outside to pounce on Nico Williams, although the youngster is very happy at Athletic Bilbao and is a key part of Ernesto Valverde’s project.
Williams, 21, has started the 2023/24 season extremely well, registering four assists in as many La Liga games. A tear in the adductor muscle while on international duty with Spain saw the winger miss out on Bilbao’s 3-0 win over Cadiz at the weekend.
Nico Williams to Aston Villa—Good choice?
Aston Villa enjoyed a fantastic summer transfer window, making five additions to their squad. While they haven’t exactly made a spectacular start to the new campaign, the club has complete faith in Unai Emery to turn things around as he did when replacing Steven Gerrard before the Qatar World Cup last year.
Under Emery, with the help of improved transfer funds and solid backing of the owners, Aston Villa have got back into Europe, and while this season hasn’t been great so far, Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace at home steadied the ship. For the Villans to continue heading in a positive direction, it is essential that they continue backing the manager to rebuild the squad in his own vision, as well as keep bringing in top-quality signings at the same time.
It seems like Emery has already started planning for the January transfer window, with Athletic’s Nico Williams rumoured to be on Villa’s radar. Villa aren’t in desperate need of adding a wide player to their ranks as they already have Moussa Diaby, Leon Bailey and Bertrand Traore, but if they can potentially get one of Europe’s top young talents for a bargain fee in January then why not?
Since making his debut for Bilbao in 2020/21, Nico Williams has 23 goal contributions in 89 senior appearances thus far. Predominantly a right-winger, the Spanish international has played on the left flank this season, something that Villa could be seeking next year if they plan to offload Traore.
To pick up a young and talented right-winger for free with enormous potential, particularly one with such a capability of getting fans off their seats, would be brilliant business by Villa if they were to pull it off – depending on what happens with his contract situation in Bilbao between now and January.
