Nico Williams was heavily linked with a move away from Athletic Club this past summer, with Arsenal, Chelsea, and Barcelona interested.
Nico Williams was reportedly a target for Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona. His agent has now revealed in an interview with Cadena SER via 90min why the Spanish international chose to stay at Athletic Club instead of moving to the Premier League.
Nico Williams had an exceptional season with the La Liga outfit last year and he helped Spain win the Euro 2024 as well. He was clearly one of the hottest commodities on the transfer market earlier this summer. But the player decided that he wanted to stay at Athletic Club for another season before moving on to other challenges.
The Spaniard’s agent Felix Tainta has now revealed that Williams and his family always had absolute freedom to decide on his future and he chose to respect their wishes.
“The lad has had an incredible, spectacular year, and for me he has confirmed it by being, for me, the best player of Euro 2024,” agent Felix Tainta said. “We have had a lot of movement, a lot of travel… We’re happy, but everything is compressed into a very short time and we arrive at the end of the market stressed.
“The boy has decided to stay for another year. We are here to work, support him in all his decisions and advise him. He wanted to stay. It is proof that when a player wants to stay at a club he stays and when he wants to leave he leaves. It is not the agent who puts a gun to his head and says ‘go away, I want you to come where I want’.
“The player and the family have total absolute freedom. It is very easy to attack the agent, we are always the ones who take all the blows. We are the cancers of football, the leprosy of football, but then there are many sporting directors who do not have a club and become agents. We have been fighting with that for some time. Each player decides where he wants to be.”
Arsenal, Chelsea, and Barcelona were keen
Arsenal were very keen on the Spanish international, and he could have been an exceptional acquisition for them. He would have added goals and creativity to the side. Other than that, his explosive pace and trickery would have added unpredictability to the Arsenal attack.
Chelsea wingers have been quite mediocre in recent months, and they could have used a quality attacker like Williams. At 22, he is only going to get better with coaching and experience. He could develop into an exceptional player for most clubs.
Barcelona were keen on signing the 22-year-old as well, but they are going through financial difficulties, and affording him could have been difficult. The player has a £49 million release clause in his contract and although Arsenal and Chelsea could afford him easily, the Spanish giants would have struggled to match up to them financially. It will be interesting to see if these clubs retain their interest at the end of the season and come back for him in 2025.
