After a summer of speculation around his future, Nico Williams might have hoped he could forget about a possible move and focus on his football. He would have been gravely mistaken.
The Basque winger turned down multiple offers to leave Athletic Club, and had significant interest from Barcelona, but will remain in Bilbao for ‘at least one more year’, as Williams himself termed it recently. He has a €58m release clause, although Athletic will try to extend his deal and likely increase his release clause.
Barcelona unveil the new away kit: https://t.co/mNbxaYXPu6
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) September 4, 2024
Joining up with the Spain squad ahead of clashes with Serbia and Switzerland, Williams was signing autographs for a fan, when he was told that ‘I can see you at Real Madrid next year’.
“Don’t f*** around, a**hole,” Williams said with half a smile on his face.
"I can see you at Madrid next year."
"Don't f*** around."
Nico Williams to Real Madrid? 😬😅pic.twitter.com/4PcVVRCsl8
— Football España (@footballespana_) September 4, 2024
Wililams, 22, was the flavour of the summer in Spain, after his exploits at Euro 2024. There was significant pressure applied by Barcelona for him to move there, and significant annoyance from Athletic Club. Barcelona left-back Alejandro Balde has admitted that he was in conversation with Williams most days, and was certainly selling him on the idea of moving to Catalonia.
Always realmadrid is wellcoming the best players.