Nico Williams’ future points far from Bilbao in 2025. The 21-year-old winger kept his promise to stay at Athletic Club for one more season to play in the Europa League, but the value of his clause, along with the need to take a step Later in their careerthey will make it an impossible mission for the ‘lions’ to try to keep their star.
In that sense, FC Barcelona remains the first option for the man from Pamplona, as long as the Barça team considers him a priority for 2025/26. Nico was the most desired signing by the board and the culé fans in the last summer market, but the Spanish international ruled out waiting for a Barça offer before returning to train with Athletic.
However, the scenario will be radically opposite in 2025. Nico will have the freedom to decide where to play and Barça will have the necessary solvency to amortize his transfer without problems with the financial ‘Fair Play’. The main obstacle culé? The insistence of several European greats on the youngest of the Williams with a much more robust checkbook than the Barça player.
The ‘heavyweights’ of the Premier League will go after Nico Williams
In principle, Paris Saint-Germain will be one of Barça’s most powerful rivals in the ‘race’ for the Basque. The French need to sign a ‘top’ forward to fill the gap left by Kylian Mbappé and the Spanish international has the necessary credentials to try to make Bondy’s man forget at the Parc des Princes.
However, in the Premier League there are also other ‘heavyweights’ willing to go all out to sign Nico Williams. One of them is Liverpoola club that has the signing of a winger as an absolute priority for the summer of 2025, once Mohamed Salah leaves Anfield Road.
A signing like Athletic’s ’11’ for Manchester City can be considered no less urgent. The Mancunian team could suffer a true internal revolution if, finally, Pep Guardiola decides to leave at the end of this season. In any case, the bad form of the ‘sky blue’ team in recent weeks shows the need to sign another ‘crack’ so as not to depend exclusively on the goals of Erling Haaland and the assists of Kevin de Bruyne.
Another club that may decide to bid seriously for the Athletic Club star is Manchester United. The ‘red devils’ have just begun a new cycle with Ruben Amorim on the bench and the Portuguese coach’s idea is to rejuvenate a squad that, in recent seasons, has wasted many millions of euros on forwards who have not lived up to the task (Antony, Weghorst, Sancho…).
Any of these clubs have enough millions in cash to make Nico Williams one of the highest paid players on the planet. However, Barça has the necessary sporting resources for the Basque to take the definitive step to world stardom, after a disappointing start to the season (pair of goals and assists in 15 games) that have nothing to do with his brilliant performance in the Eurocup.
