“I’m not going to lie, I snubbed Barcelona transfer to join Arsenal because of that particular player…He’s my idol”: Nico Williams has revealed why he has decided to join Arsenal in the summer
Nico Williams has sent Arsenal and Barcelona a deadline to sign him this summer as he wants to avoid a prolonged transfer saga, according to reports.
The Gunners’ 1-1 draw against Brentford over the weekend saw Premier League leaders Liverpool take advantage to move 13 points clear of Mikel Arteta’s side heading into the final six matches of the season.
And Arsenal will now concentrate on the Champions League with the Gunners taking a 3-0 lead over Real Madrid into the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final clash on Wednesday.
Potential Champions League glory would only strengthen Arsenal’s position in the transfer market over the summer and Arteta has already guaranteed a “big summer”.
Arteta recently commented: “It’s going to be a big one and we are very excited about it.
“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.
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“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.”
Athletic Bilbao star Williams is understood to be one of their top targets as they look to improve their attack in the summer with Sport Bild journalist Christian Falk recently claiming that the Spain international is ‘closer to a move to Arsenal than Bayern Munich’.
Falk wrote in his Caught Offside column: ‘❌Not True: Bayern Munich are in the lead for Nico Williams. I think, at the moment, Williams is closer to a move to Arsenal than Bayern Munich, as the Bundesliga club can’t be as concrete as they would like as things currently stand.’
And now Spanish publication Sport claims that Athletic Bilbao star Wiliams ‘sets a deadline to decide his future’ in an ultimatum to both Arsenal and Catalan giants Barcelona.
The clubs ‘nor the player want next summer’s big decision to drag on’ and Williams ‘doesn’t want to delay his decision as he did last summer’.
After his move to Barcelona collapsed last year, the report adds: ‘They’re not about to experience another soap opera, so he wants to have everything resolved by July 15th at the latest.’
Arsenal legend Alan Smith would be surprised to see Williams join the Gunners in the summer, he explained: “Nico Williams can play on that side but when Saka’s back, it’s such a difficult conundrum really when you try to find an understudy for an automatic starter in Saka.
“Nico Williams wouldn’t be wanting to come to a club and then find himself sitting on the bench. He’s obviously a very good young player, so again, whether Arsenal will pursue something like that, I’m not sure. They’ve got to tread a fine line in the transfer market at the moment and I’m sure they’re thinking about it all the time, especially at this moment in the season when things aren’t great.
“I would be a little surprised if Nico Williams came, I’ve gotta say. Whether he can play in a central position or on the wings, I don’t know but certainly when Saka’s fit, he’s not going to get in on the right.”
