- 22 hours ago
Nico Williams: Spain’s Euro 2024 star who is Arsenal’s perfect summer signing
Robin Bairner
- 15 Jun 2024 11:38 BST
- 4 min read
Nico Williams is increasingly looking like Arsenal’s perfect signing this summer
The Athletic Club winger is set to get his chance with Spain at Euro 2024 when La Roja open their campaign up against Croatia in what is a blockbuster encounter.
Should Luis de la Fuente give him pitch time, he will seek to replicate the type of form that saw him register five goals and 11 assists in LaLiga.
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STATS
Nico Williams
M (R), AM (RL)
Athletic
Nico Williams
M (R), AM (RL)
Athletic
There is much for manager Mikel Arteta and Arsenal to admire about the 21-year-old, who FootballTransfers exclusively reported the North London side are interested in last month. These reports are now widespread.
Firstly, he occupies a position that the Gunners are actively looking to recruit in – and offers the versatility that Arteta loves. Primarily a winger, he would offer much-needed support to Bukayo Saka, who cannot forever play at the intensity he is being asked by the Emirates club presently.
Of course, being a quality player is a pre-requisite for any player targeted by Arsenal, and Nico has both ample ability and the potential to become world-class.
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Data analytic experts give him a SciSkill score of 102.8, which puts him 14th among the current squad. This figure is calculated using hundreds of in-game data points.
He has, however, developed rapidly over the course of the last six months, with his rating increasing nearly 10% over that period.
Furthermore, he has a peak potential of 126.9, SciSports reports. This would put him comfortably in the Gunners’ top 10 players, with that figure roughly the same standard that William Saliba is currently. At 21, he has plenty of time to reach that ceiling, which could even be pushed upwards at a club like Arsenal.
And then it comes to price. Nico has a release clause in the region of €50 million.
This figure stands a little above his Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €37.7m, but this figure has taken massive bounds upwards in conjunction with his improvement. Indeed, this value has come close to doubling over the course of the season.
How likely is a deal?
Given Nico Williams’ attainable and reasonable release clause, there is every chance a club could trigger this figure. Whether the 21-year-old wants to move or not is a different story.
Wages could be an issue and are a secondary defence for Athletic against predators. Nico is reportedly on a sizeable wage with the club, and while it may be that Arsenal can match these, it could potentially break their wage structure to have a new signing come in with such a figure.
Some reports from Spain indicate that Nico wants to stay in his homeland, yet Fabrizio Romano indicates the situation is more open and that he wants to concentrate on Euro 2024 before assessing his future.
If Arsenal could sign him, though, it would represent a tremendous coup.
