Aston Villa ready to offer a £115k/week to the unstoppable £43m target
Aston Villa will offer Athletic Bilbao’s La Liga forward Nico Williams a £115,000-a-week contract as they look to lure the Spain international to the Premier League during the summer transfer window.
Unai Emery’s Conference League-bound side look to have missed out on one Spain-based wideman, Real Madrid’s out-of-contract Marco Asensio on his way to Paris Saint-Germain. There appears to be a quiet confidence at Villa Park, however, that their pursuit of Nico Williams will prove to be rather more successful.
According to Marca, the jet-heeled Athletic Bilbao attacker has a £43 million euro release clause in his contract. If Aston Villa trigger it – they certainly have the ambition and the budget to do just that – the Basque giants will be powerless to prevent Williams from becoming the headline-grabbing, marquee signing of what is likely to be Monchi’s first summer at the helm; the Sevilla director agreeing terms to join Emery in the Midlands.
Aston Villa are ready to put a £115,000-a-week contract on the table for Williams. The Pamplona-born 20-year-old has already been offered a new contract at San Mames, but that remains unsigned as he weighs up his options.
Capped eight times by Spain, Williams featured for his country at the Qatar World Cup; his explosive pace giving Luis Enrique’s pretty-passing side a different, more athletic sort of presence in the final third
Furthermore, with nine goals and six assists for his club side in 2022/23, Williams has silenced the critics who previously questioned his end product, forming a formidable partnership with older brother Inaki under former Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde.
“In one-on-ones, he is practically unstoppable,” Inaki says of Nico. “(His rise) is incredible. He is showing that he is (improving), he is gaining experience. In front of goal, he is improving a lot.
“He is a talent. A rough diamond. He has a lot of room for improvement and hopefully he can continue to improve.”
Nico compares his style of play to that of Kylian Mbappe. He has also been linked with the likes of Liverpool, AC Milan and Arsenal (Sport Italia).
