Nico Williams will play a match at the Emirates Stadium this summer, and he won’t be at Barcelona. Unfortunately, for Arsenal, it is still unlikely to be for them.
Despite months of being courted by Barcelona, among plenty of others including Arsenal, Williams has agreed a new long-term deal with Athletic Club. To the surprise of many, he extended his stay in Bilbao to 2035.
Williams had been expected to join Barcelona this summer after Hansi Flick’s side accelerated their plans to sign him. However, on Thursday morning, his boyhood side confirmed that the plans had changed.
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“The red-and-white winger is linked to the club of his heart for the next ten seasons and his release clause increases by more than 50% of what it had,” they wrote in a statement online. With the previous release clause thought to have been at £51million, that makes Williams a £76million player at minimum.
He also has enormous wage demands. The cost of a total package to buy Williams has put off several teams from pushing harder to buy him.
Arsenal have put serious consideration to it for much of the past 18 months with Williams a long-term option as they seek to add depth and quality to their attack.
Williams was keen to stay at Athletic for the 2024/25 campaign, at least, with hopes of playing in a home Europa League final. Now, he will continue to get the adoration of the Estadio San Mames.
For 90 minutes in August, he will get the chance to show just why so much of Europe was after his signature. Athletic will, it is understood, play against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in a friendly.
The Gunners are set to return for pre-season training next week with an initial camp in Spain before heading off to Asia for games against Newcastle United, Tottenham, and AC Milan. They are being played in Singapore and Hong Kong.
When Arsenal come back to England they will have a fortnight before the Premier League starts. With no Community Shield commitments, Mikel Arteta’s side will instead face Athletic in north London.
The game will take place over the final weekend ahead of the Premier League’s restart. For Williams, very few would have predicted him staying at Athletic all summer.
If he was to play at the Emirates Stadium, it might have been imagined that he would be turning out for Arsenal, not playing against them. As it happens, it is likely to be a case of what if.
