Manchester City and Liverpool are in the lead to sign Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams, according to AS (page 1).
The 21-year-old has one of the best performing wingers in La Liga this season. He has already registered one goal and five assists from 10 appearances.
His current deal with Bilbao expires at the end of the campaign, but Williams does not wish to leave the Spanish club on a free transfer.
He is hopeful of agreeing a new deal in the coming weeks with the guarantee that his €50 million release clause will stay the same.
Amidst this, AS claim that the big four in the Premier League are ‘very interested’ and City and Liverpool are ‘in the lead’ to sign the winger.
However, a deal could be complicated by the fact that Williams prefers to continue in the Spanish top-flight in future.
Real Madrid and Barcelona are keeping tabs on his progress. The Spaniard is said to be motivated to join Carlo Ancelotti’s side.
Williams could be a future star
The young attacker has the ability to play on either flank but has been most effective from the right hand side.
Liverpool could see him as a long-term replacement for Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian has had another fabulous season but there remains the speculation that he could move to Saudi Arabia in the near future.
Jurgen Klopp’s side may want a quality replacement in their ranks. Williams is only 21 but he has shown plenty of maturity for his age with his dribbling, ability to win key duels and make goal contributions in the final third.
He has six goal involvements in just 10 games for Bilbao this season. With more creative players around him at Liverpool, the starlet could easily hit 20-25 goal contributions over the course of an entire campaign.
Manchester City are also interested in signing the highly-rated star. In our view, the club could see him as a competitor to Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva for the right wing role, but his game time could be limited.
A move to Anfield would suit Williams better but the big question is whether he would change his transfer stance. Williams seems to have his sights on joining Madrid and has identified them as his preferred club.
