Nico Williams bomb as superstar pledges ‘career’ to Athletic Bilbao

Robin Bairner

• 26 Sept 2024 11:05 BST
• 2 min read

Nico Williams’ difficult summer transfer window has been detailed by his brother Inaki, who has explained how the Athletic Club star coped with interest from the likes of Barcelona, Arsenal and Chelsea.

Even before the winger lit up Euro 2024, interest had been building in Nico Williams, with FootballTransfers detailing that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta had made him a priority addition.

After the competition, interest in the 22-year-old caught fire, with Barcelona particularly pushing for a transfer.

Nico, who has an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €49.6 million but a release clause worth €58m, wanted to remain with Athletic as they seek European glory in the Europa League on home soil.

“It has been a very long, very hard summer. A summer of having to make decisions. After several months, for me he has made the right decision,” Inaki Williams, who is also a winger at Athletic, told Sport.

“Now we have a dream to fulfil, like the whole team. There are few of us who have been lucky enough to play in European competition with Athletic and now we are going to fulfil the dream of many.”

Compared

Nico Williams

M (L)

Athletic

Nico Williams

M (L)

Athletic

VS

Iñaki Williams

M, AM (R)

Athletic

Iñaki Williams

M, AM (R)

Athletic

2024/2025

Season Statistics

2024/2025

7	Appearances	5
1	Assists	3
1	Goals	0
440	Minutes Played	419

Williams targets Athletic stay

While Nico Williams is set to be subject to transfer speculation again next summer, with Barcelona, Chelsea and Arsenal liable to be major protagonists in any move once again, Inaki Williams has claimed he wants to spend his whole career in Bilbao.

“I would like to be a one-club man and spend my entire career at Athletic,” he told AS.

“It would be a source of pride for me.”

Now 30 years old, Inaki Williams has played exclusively for the Basque club in terms of his domestic football. Once capped by Spain but now a regular for the Ghana national team, he has feature on 428 occasions for Athletic.

Surprisingly, Inaki is outperforming Nico in LaLiga this season, posting one goal and four assists to his younger brother’s single strike.