Arsenal believe Barcelona CANNOT afford Nico Williams

Carlo Garganese

• 28 Jul 2024 09:45 BST
• 3 min read

Arsenal are still confident of signing Nico Williams this summer as they believe that Barcelona can’t afford the Euro 2024 star.

As reported by Football London, the Gunners feel no need to rush into signing the Athletic Bilbao winger because they believe that Barcelona won’t be able to find the funds to buy the 22-year-old.

Arsenal have been battling Barcelona and Chelsea for the Athletic Bilbao winger, who lit up Euro 2024 for the Spain national team.

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Both Barcelona and Chelsea have been reported to have made offers for Williams, who has a €58 million release clause in his contract.

It has been widely acknowledged that Williams prefers to join Barcelona, where he would form a devastating winger duo with wonderkid Lamine Yamal.

However, Arsenal believe that there is no way that Barcelona can afford to sign Williams, despite Blaugrana president Joan Laporta’s recent statements in which he expressed confidence of buying the winger.

As a result, Arsenal feel no rush to bid for Williams and will focus their attention elsewhere first, such as completing the signing of Riccardo Calafiori and completing some sales.

Barcelona have had some well publicised financial problems in recent years, and Arsenal don’t believe things are much different this summer.

Williams at Euro 2024

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

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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 20 goals in 122 games.

He has also scored four goals in 20 games for Spain, and travelled to the 2022 World Cup.