Nico Williams

[Ach]

Arsenal have been monitoring Athletic Bilbao and Spain winger Nico Williams, 21. (Mirror)

Nico Williams
21
Winger
Athletic Bilbao

[Ach]

Arsenal and Chelsea are among the clubs to have scouted Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams on multiple occasions, with the 21-year-old seen as an ideal fit for the Premier League. (Fabrizio Romano, via CaughtOffside)

[Salibatelli]

Not a big fan of this guy, seen him a few times, bit of a headless chicken.

[Ach]

Chelsea are keen to sign Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams. The 21-year-old Spain forward has a release clause that could mean he is available for £43m this summer. (Telegraph - subscription required)

Williams is also on Arsenal's radar with Wolves' 23-year-old Portugal winger Pedro Neto and Brentford striker Ivan Toney, 27, being considered too. (Evening Standard)

[alexafc12]

who ?

[Ach]

Arsenal are chasing Athletic Bilbao and Spain winger Nico Williams, 21, who has a 50m euros (£42.2m) release clause. (Football London)

[Zenith]

Williams’ wage demands would put him in the top 2 highest earners at Arsenal. This could cause problems with the wage bill and senior players seeing a young and inexperienced player earning more money than them

[Ach]

Athletic Bilbao's Spain winger Nico Williams, 21, continues to hold out for a move to Barcelona, despite having talks with Villa, Arsenal, Liverpool and Newcastle United. (HITC)

[Highbury Hillbilly]

I'd pass. I like him as a player but him holding out for a big paycheck from us tells me he isn't sold on the project. We just made this mistake with Havertz, we can't repeat it again.

[DiamondGooner]

Well who's he benching.....?

Trossard, Martinelli?

Think CDM and Striker is more important, especially if he's not sold on us already.

[jayramfootball]

Well who's he benching.....?

Trossard, Martinelli?

Think CDM and Striker is more important, especially if he's not sold on us already.

Agree.
I can't see any logic in discussing ANY potential incoming player without articulating who they are replacing and whether the replaced player is seen as a backup at that point or whether they should be sold.

Transfer rumours and discussions on potential players tend to the same every year - long list of 100 players we 'need' without any thought on the how that plays out in reality.

For me, if Williams comes in then it means Trossard or Martinelli has to go.
Martinelli is several years younger and nowhere near his peak - Trossard is hitting 30.

Not sure what the plan would be.
Straight swap for Martinelli and keep the older Trossard and the younger Williams?
Sell Trossard and have two younger players in Williams and Martinelli?
Would either scenario make us better in the short / medium term?

It would be great if transfer discussions had more substance to them.

[theHotHead]

The argument that he would unsettle the squad because of his wages is stupid. Shit Havertz came in to be top earner and that dod nothing to the squad Harmony

[jayramfootball]

The argument that he would unsettle the squad because of his wages is stupid. Shit Havertz came in to be top earner and that dod nothing to the squad Harmony

Who argued that he would unsettle the squad?
The point is who would he replace and whether swapping what we already have is going to make us better - unless you think we're carrying Martinelli, Trossard AND Williams?
The unsettling of the squad only comes when you are not playing players - which didn't happen with Havertz. We had a specific squad place to fill following the departure of Xhaka.

Say we sign Williams... what's your plan for Martinelli and Trossard?

Edu and Arteta's job is much bigger than salivating over players and signing them based on what happens at Euro 24 without any regard to what we actually need and what will give us the best chance of overhauling City.

[Highbury Hillbilly]

The argument that he would unsettle the squad because of his wages is stupid. Shit Havertz came in to be top earner and that dod nothing to the squad Harmony

I wouldn't be so sure. There's always that straw that breaks the camel's back.

The core squad that got us to where we are went through the rough times in 2020-22 where everything was brought back to basics. No primadonnas, no super-high salaries, non-negotiables. Ozil and Auba chucked out, with £27m in termination payouts between them.

Then Arteta's pal Jesus with his 8-goal season parachutes in as our highest paid player at £250k. A year later, Havertz with his 9-goal season takes that mantle at £275k. Saka was on £80k pw until last season.

You bring in Williams at £300k pw on top of that, and some players will wonder if they'd prefer to go elsewhere to win something.

[jayramfootball]

The argument that he would unsettle the squad because of his wages is stupid. Shit Havertz came in to be top earner and that dod nothing to the squad Harmony

I wouldn't be so sure. There's always that straw that breaks the camel's back.

The core squad that got us to where we are went through the rough times in 2020-22 where everything was brought back to basics. No primadonnas, no super-high salaries, non-negotiables. Ozil and Auba chucked out, with £27m in termination payouts between them.

Then Arteta's pal Jesus with his 8-goal season parachutes in as our highest paid player at £250k. A year later, Havertz with his 9-goal season takes that mantle at £275k. Saka was on £80k pw until last season.

You bring in Williams at £300k pw on top of that, and some players will wonder if they'd prefer to go elsewhere to win something.

Sounds like doom mongering.
The squad look the opposite of the dark picture you are painting.
Together , focused and happy - at one with the coaching staff and fans.
That's part of the reason we have progressed so much and now go into seasons as one of the title favourites.