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A bidding war is brewing over Athletic star Nico Williams - but he isn’t the only first-rate left winger on the market.
Given that we’re only a few weeks away from the start of the January transfer window, it perhaps feels a little premature to be worrying about stories which will come around next summer – but what’s likely to be one of the biggest bidding wars in the game come June is just starting to heat up as most of Europe’s biggest teams start stepping up their attempts to sign Nico Williams.
The 22-year-old Athletic winger, who also scored one of Spain’s goals in their Euro 2024 final win over England, is widely regarded as one of the hottest properties in the game and with 18 months left on his contract in Bilbao and a reported €58m (£48m) release clause in there, it seems all but certain that he will leave his boyhood club behind next summer and make the move to one of Europe’s biggest clubs.
Accordingly, the rumour mill has started chugging into action – just last week, we reported on stories claiming that Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur were all interested, and that’s likely just to be the tip of the iceberg. Barcelona, in particular, have been very open with their overtures. His destination is uncertain, but it is guaranteed that several teams who are keen to get one of the most exciting wide forwards in the game will leave empty-handed.
As such, alternative options will need to be considered, and one of them, noted in the past as a potential Liverpool target, may well end up being the subject of his own bidding war – Real Sociedad’s Takefusa Kubo, who may not have Williams’ star power but actually produces more in the final third.
At 23, the Japanese international has a year on his fellow winger, but thanks to early start in the J-League he also has a lot more experience under his belt – his next league appearance will already be his 200th. He plays a near-identical role to Williams, coming in off the flank and into the box to threaten the opposing goal, and so far has done so even more successfully, albeit typically from the other side of the field.
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Where Williams has scored 12 goals in La Liga since the start of the 2022/23 season, when Kubo moved to Spain, the Sociedad man has 19 despite totalling fewer expected goals. Williams has more assists, it’s true, picking up 11 last season, but Kubo actually created more opportunities for his team-mates in terms of xG – they just didn’t put them away as proficiently as Williams’ did.
Kubo is also a better passer, both in terms of the ability to maintain possession and to pick out a dangerous forward ball – in fact, in most areas of the game, Kubo comes out on top in terms of the statistics behind the two players’ performances.
Not that there aren’t areas in which Williams outdoes his cross-Basque Country counterpart – he’s faster, unquestionably, a better dribbler, and can beat defenders in ways that few wingers can. His end product is inconsistent but he is capable of magic. If he ties his skillset together, his ceiling is incredibly high – but Kubo already looks like a dependable player who would be available for a similar sort of price.
Kubo’s contract runs until 2029, but he has a release clause only fractionally higher than Williams’ at €60m (£47m). If a club is after the Spaniard, then Kubo would make perfect sense as a Plan B, and there’s some chance that he even ends up scoring and creating more in the long run, even if Williams’ highlight reel will likely have the edge after a few years.
Liverpool, who have been linked with both players, may well be exactly the kind of club who leave other big hitters to haggle over Williams’ likely colossal wage demands. Manchester United and Spurs seem like outside bets for either player given pressing needs in other positions, but it wouldn’t by a surprise to see Arsenal or Chelsea involved – the former could do with extra firepower down across the front three, and the latter keep buying wingers whether they need them or not. Manchester City have come up in the Williams conversation, too.
Either way, while the Williams story will dominate the headlines, there are quite a few teams who would do well not to sleep on Kubo, either. He scores, creates, is a threat in the final third and has the technical quality to succeed at the highest level – and the bidding probably won’t be half as fierce.
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