The 'big' of Europe who wants to leave Barça without options to sign Nico Williams

FC Barcelona, despite its current economic situation that may seem prohibitive in terms of making any signings, continues to constantly monitor various alternatives in several positions to strengthen the squad for the upcoming 2025-26 summer transfer window.

In this sense, one of the names that seems to appeal the most to FC Barcelona in terms of reinforcements in the attacking front is that of Nico Williams, a player who last summer was strongly rumored to be the star signing for the Catalan club to bolster the left wing. An acquisition that supposedly fell through due to the complexities anticipated regarding his potential registration and also because of the apparent interest of the Pamplona forward, influenced by the desire of his family circle and various sporting reasons, to continue wearing the Athletic Club jersey.

Now, the reality surrounding this potential transaction for the upcoming summer could be different, as the desire of Nico Williams, who is not having his best numbers in this 2024-25 season but continues to accumulate interesting statistics (two goals and five assists in 23 matches), could be to explore a new footballing adventure away from San Mamés.

Given this, considering that his contractual situation has not changed, there could be a certain feasibility to secure his services through his release clause (€62m). Perhaps for this reason, Barcelona does not completely rule him out as a quite interesting market option.

The European 'big' club that would like to sign Nico Williams in this winter transfer window

However, for the Catalan team, it is clear that it will not be an easy transaction to handle at all. Why? Beyond the fact that the club's economic reality may suggest that the signing itself is complicated, there is no doubt that Nico Williams is also of interest to other teams, which are not neglecting his situation and are attentive to any move to go for him.

Under this premise, there is a team that apparently would be so interested in signing Nico Williams that they would be in a position to expedite his arrival in this ongoing winter transfer window. As reported by 'El Nacional.cat', Arsenal under Mikel Arteta, valuing the profile of the Pamplona player as a young left winger with an 'electric' style, characterized by dribbling, flair, and great success in one-on-one situations, would not be averse to incorporating him into their sporting project as soon as possible.

The aforementioned source maintains that Arsenal's interest in swiftly adding Nico Williams to their squad focuses on providing depth to the Gunners' attacking line, who lost their star player, right winger Bukayo Saka (muscle tear in his right leg) last month. Therefore, they would like to reinforce their squad with another player of similar characteristics to compensate for that loss.

Will Athletic Club let the Pamplona native leave in the middle of the season?

However, this departure apparently would be very complicated, as Athletic Club, despite reportedly considering replacing the Pamplona player, would not be willing to let go of one of their key stars in the middle of the season. Additionally, Nico would also not be considering a change of scenery at this stage of the season due to his strong commitment to the Basque side, the club where he was nurtured as a footballer and to which he has shown great devotion on more than one occasion. Therefore, Barcelona could be buying time to approach this negotiation for the upcoming summer. Will they be able to do it?