Aston Villa have reportedly offered a proposal to Athletic Bilbao for Nico Williams, according to his representative Felix Tainta.
The 20-year-old is considered a big prospect and is coming off the back of a season in which he scored nine goals and provided six assists in 43 appearances across all competitions.
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Further, he has already earned eight caps for Spain, scoring one goal, and so the expectation is that he has a bright future ahead of him for both club and country.
According to local outlet Bilbao Hiria, Williams’ representative, Tainta, has confirmed the ‘existence of an offer from Aston Villa’, which in turn has forced the La Liga side to consider their position as they may not be able to ignore a substantial bid for their prized asset.
It’s added that Villa boss Unai Emery is said to have had a meeting with Williams, and so it remains to be seen if the talented youngster is convinced by a move to the Premier League, or if he will remain with his boyhood club.
Williams has come through the youth ranks in Bilbao to establish himself as a key figure for the senior side, but his current contract does expire in June 2024, and so a decision is arguably needed this summer on his future one way or another.
With his pace, creativity, technical ability and eye for goal, he could be a top signing with Emery able to develop his talent and unlock his potential, and so it could be a very exciting addition if a deal can be done.
However, there is no suggestion that the offer has been accepted or discussions are ongoing to reach an agreement, and so it remains to be seen how the situation plays out in the coming weeks as Villa look to bring in top reinforcements to significantly improve what we already have available to Emery.
The Spanish tactician spoke openly in January to the media about wanting to add a right-sided winger to his squad, and while that never materialised in that window, he found a short-term solution in Bertrand Traore to get us through to the end of last season.
We’re expected to be very active this summer to strengthen the squad and allow Emery to mould the group into his own, and with the Williams rumours seemingly refusing to go away having already been linked with him in recent months, he could very well be one of our priority targets.
That said, the more sceptical, and perhaps realistic, angle would be that his representative is perhaps trying to build interest in his client and encourage other bids by leaking the news of our supposed offer, or speed up contract talks with Athletic Bilbao, but it’s hoped that we are in contention and well-positioned to land his signature if he is indeed on our shortlist.