Barcelona leave Nico Williams to Arsenal

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 11 Dec 2024 10:09 GMT
• 3 min read

Arsenal have received a massive boost to their hopes of signing Nico Williams after Barcelona’s interest in the Euro 2024 star subsided.

According to Sport, Barcelona are no longer focused on making a big move for Williams.

The Blaugrana had been desperate to sign the Athletic Bilbao winger this past summer but were unable to complete a deal for financial reasons.

But Sport report that due to the brilliance of Raphinha and Yamine Lamal, the arrival of Dani Olmo and the ageless qualities of Robert Lewandowski, the Barcelona board no longer see the urgency to spend big on Williams.

READ MORE: Champions League top scorers 2024/25

Indeed, they are also considering other options should they decide to sign another attacker.

This comes as great news for Arsenal, as it has been reported over the last few days that Mikel Arteta has demanded the signing of Williams in January in an attempt to rescue the Gunners’ faltering title challenge.

Arsenal journalist Charles Watts says that Arteta wants to sign an attacker during the January transfer window as he feels the Gunners are lightgweight in this area.

Williams has a reported transfer release clause of €58 million, which is not unreachable for Arsenal.

Arteta feels that the signing of Williams can kickstart Arsenal's title hopes.

The Gunners find themselves in third place in the Premier League, six points behind leaders Liverpool, who have a game in hand.

Arsenal were interested in signing Williams this past summer, with the winger one of the most wanted men on the transfer market.

READ MORE: Premier League top scorers 2024/25

Barcelona and Chelsea also fought for the player's signature but he ended up staying at Athletic Bilbao.

It was reported that Williams’ favoured destination should he leave Athletic is Barcelona, but the news that their interest has cooled opens up the door for Arsenal.

Williams at Euro 2024

Williams was one of the stars of Euro 2024 with electric performances as Spain won the trophy.

He scored in the 2-1 final win over England and was one of the players of the tournament.

His best performance was arguably against Italy where he tore apart the right-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo and set up the winner - an own goal by Riccardo Calafiori.

He also scored a fantastic goal in the win over Georgia in the last-16.

The 22-year-old Williams is considered one of the most exciting young wingers in all of Europe.

Blessed with lightning pace and dribbling skills, he has a promising future in the game.

After making his debut for Athletic in 2021, Williams has scored 22 goals in 141 games.

He has also scored four goals in 24 games for Spain, and travelled to the 2022 World Cup.

This season he has been a little less productive, with two goals in 19 games.