ARSENAL and Chelsea are set to fight it out for Spain star Nico Williams this summer – but Barcelona already have an edge over the Premier League sides.
Athletic Bilbao forward Williams, 22, scored two and assisted one for Luis de la Fuente’s men at Euro 2024.
That included the opening goal in Sunday’s final against England as Spain triumphed 2-1 to clinch a record-breaking fourth European Championship.
Williams’ stellar Euros comes off the back of a superb campaign for Bilbao which saw him contribute eight goals and 19 assists in 37 appearances.
According to The Athletic, signing the winger would require paying the LaLiga club his £49million release clause up front.
Williams is at the front of Arsenal’s list of priorities, but it is understood Mikel Arteta would need to sell players to finance the deal.
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The Gunners are linked with selling the likes of Kieran Tierney, Aaron Ramsdale, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah.
Chelsea also remain keen on Williams having monitored him for some time.
However, they do already possess a number of options on the flanks – Mykhaylo Mudryk, Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke and Raheem Sterling to name a few.
And they are also aware Barcelona appear to be the front-runners to sign Williams.
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Lamine Yamal, who occupied the other flank for Spain at the Euros and assisted Williams’ goal in the final, is keen for the Bilbao man to join him at the Nou Camp.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has also made it clear they could pursue Williams.
He told radio station Catalunya Radio: “Today Barca could cope financially with a signing like Nico Williams.”
But it remains unclear whether Laporta’s claims are legitimate as it is widely known Barcelona remain in a difficult financial position.
Inside the baffling, brilliant story of Lamine Yamal – from being bathed by Messi to doing homework while taking Euros by storm
LAMINE YAMAL has confirmed his status as football’s next superstar at Euro 2024 – but has only been playing 11-a-side games for four years, write Jack Rosser.
Spain’s incredible 16-year-old bent home the goal of the tournament so far against France as La Roja sealed the spot in the final.
But his first five years in Barcelona’s academy were spent playing seven-a-side football, up until the age of 12 in 2020 when he finally got a crack at 11-a-side games.
Yamal’s story is baffling, brilliant and barely believable in equal measure.
He is a boy born to a Moroccan father and a mother from Equatorial Guinea, who turned 17 the day before the Euros final, and was cradled by footballing royalty at just six months old.
Staggering pictures of Yamal as a baby being held and bathed by Messi, taken for a Barcelona charity calendar 16 years ago, resurfaced this week.
He did not restrict his brushes with greatness to Barcelona either, with footage of Yamal as an academy player walking as a mascot with Spain and Real Madrid icon Sergio Ramos at an El Clasico in 2016.
There is a touch of fate about this gem, Spain’s “little MVP”, as team-mate Nico Williams has dubbed him.
Yamal has been doing homework in his spare time and received exam results during the tournament. He passed, obviously.
Now he’s the youngest ever goalscorer at the Euros, also becoming the youngest player to ever start a major semi-final – claiming that title from Pele.
But it’s Yamal’s humble approach on and off the pitch that most impresses everyone he meets.
And France star Adrien Rabiot probably felt quite embarrassed as he boarded his plane back home from Germany.
He had tried to intimidate Yamal ahead of their semi-final clash – telling Yamal he “needs to do more.”
Was this good enough, then? Yamal responded with a goal for the ages and a man of the match performance.
A season which started with a pre-season game against Tottenham where Yamal excelled but was overshadowed by Oliver Skipp scoring a brace will end on the biggest stage European football has to offer on Sunday.
From being outshone by Skipp to eclipsing Pele’s records is not a bad year’s work – just imagine what he will do when he grows up.
Read all about the incredible rise of Lamine Yamal in full…
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
