Nico Williams: Why I didn’t join Arsenal or Chelsea

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 1 Sept 2024 11:09 BST
• 3 min read

Nico Williams has explained the reasons why he stayed at Athletic Bilbao this season.

Williams was one of the most wanted men on the transfer market this summer, with Barcelona, Arsenal and Chelsea all fighting it out to sign him.

However, in the end Williams opted to stay at Athletic and he says that his love for his hometown club and the prospect of playing in Europe was a key reason.

What did Williams say?

“My heart is Bilbao, but nobody knows what will happen in the future,” Williams said.

“It's always good when big teams want you. But I always said that I wanted to be here.

“If there was anything, it was from my agent. But I wanted to play in Europe with Bilbao.”

It is widely understood that Williams was only really tempted by a move to Barcelona.

Indeed, Barcelona came close to landing him. But the Camp Nou side’s poor finances blocked a deal.

Williams never showed any willingness to move to the Premier League this summer.

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Barcelona, Arsenal and Chelsea are all big fans of Williams, who has a €58 million release clause in his contract.

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.

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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 124 games.

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

He has yet to get off the mark for Athletic this season in four matches.