Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams and his entourage have decided to pause talks with Arsenal while he waits for Barcelona, according to reports.
The Gunners will end the season without a trophy once again after Liverpool romped to the Premier League title at the end of April.
Second-placed Arsenal didn’t get close to the Reds in the second half of the season with Mikel Arteta’s side currently 15 points behind heading into their final two matches.
They did experience some success in the Champions League when they beat defending champions Real Madrid 5-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals – but they were eventually beaten by Paris Saint-Germain at the semi-final stage.
And Arsenal boss Arteta promised a “big summer” in the transfer market in early April as they look to compete on all fronts next term.
Arteta told a pre-match press conference: “It’s going to be a big one and we are very excited about it.
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“The way we planned the five first summers, they were going to be very big and they were going to have different objectives because the turnaround of players and the objective of those windows was going to be different.
“But now when you are going to go again, we want to increase the depth of the squad but as well we want to increase the quality and the skills that we need to go to the next step.”
On new sporting director Andrea Berta, Arteta added: “I think Andrea is a big addition to the club, a big addition to the team, a team that is already formed with a lot of great people.
“Every summer is big because it is an opportunity and especially because of the number of players we have in the squad right now that is necessary.
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“But it’s a big summer for many things because first of all we have to maintain the good foundations that we have and then obviously how can we improve and evolve the team.”
Arsenal look to be building towards that with the signing of Martin Zubimendi after transfer expert recently gave his ‘Here we go!’ confirmation that the deal is happening.
There had been promising signals on their interest in Athletic Bilbao’s Williams but reports in Spain now claim that the Spaniard and his ‘entourage’ are ‘giving’ Berta, Arteta and Arsenal ‘the runaround’.
It is understood that, although Williams is ‘tempted by the Premier League’, he ‘has decided to wait for a call from Barça before committing to another club’.
Arsenal have ‘put the most pressure on him in recent weeks’ but, despite making ‘a strong sporting and financial offer’, it is claimed that ‘the player’s entourage has cooled the negotiations, conveying that Nico is in no rush and is monitoring the situation at Barca’.
The report adds: ‘Nico Williams, for his part, is in no rush. Athletic will try to renew his contract, but they know the player is looking to make a competitive leap. If Barca makes a move, his signing could be accelerated in a matter of weeks. If not, clubs like Arsenal will remain on the prowl.’