Nico Williams Athletic Bilbao
Marco Almbauer, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
On Sunday, Arsenal and Chelsea were in for a rude awakening as Bayern Munich had triggered the €58 million release clause for Nico Williams, as per Fichajes.
Bayern Munich are eager to bolster their squad with a new left-winger and their sudden activity caught everyone with surprise. The Bavarians are clearly trying to gain a first-mover advantage but on Monday, journalist Graeme Bailey calmed some nerves claiming that Arsenal and Chelsea are still the favourites in this transfer race.
Arsenal are actually standing at the front of the queue because their management has been in talks with Williams’ representatives for several days but the TBR journalist is suggesting that even Chelsea have a chance to land the Spain international.
Do Bayern stand a chance to sign Nico Williams?
If Nico Williams wants to win silverware then a move to Bayern will be pretty straightforward but the Bavarians will struggle to meet his wage demands.
Williams currently earns around €200,000 per week with Athletic Bilbao and he will demand around €300,000 – 350,000 per week from whichever club wants to sign him. Arsenal and Chelsea won’t mind paying such wages to the 22-year-old but we doubt if Bayern will agree to these terms.
The Bundesliga side hardly pay massive wages and they will never agree to spend so much money on a young talent who has had just two good seasons.
Arsenal or Chelsea: Who is more likely to sign the winger?
At this moment, Arsenal seem to be the favourites to sign Nico Williams but because Chelsea are sending back Jadon Sancho, they are also likely to be serious about signing the Bilbao winger.
Enzo Maresca will need a world-class left-winger next season and someone like Williams can help solve a lot of problems.
However, Arsenal are a more complete side under Mikel Arteta and if the Spaniard is hesitant about joining a rebuild project, Chelsea won’t be able to compete with the Gunners. If Mikel Arteta can convince the Bilbao man that he will start the next season ahead of Gabriel Martinelli in the pecking order, Williams won’t hesitate to join them.
Can Barcelona spoil the party?
Like Arsenal, Barcelona have also been linked with Nico Williams for a long time and last summer, they failed to land the winger only because they did not have the finances.
Some experts think Barca will try and sign Williams this summer as well but after the campaign Raphinha’s had, Hansi Flick won’t even think of adding unnecessary competition on the left-hand side. Unless Barcelona can offload Raphinha for a crazy fee of around €120-150 million, there’s no need for them to spend money on Nico Williams.
Barcelona happens to be the winger’s dream destination but he is not ready to wait for the Blaugrana and wants to secure his future at the very beginning of the transfer window.