Why wouldn't anyone want to come to a club that played brilliant football throughout 2025/26, thoroughly deserving their league title, and weren't beaten over 90 minutes in the entire Champions League campaign, only to lose the final on penalties to Paris Saint-Germain?

Man Utd and Liverpool's interest in Barcola could see Arsenal go for Williams

It's the French giants who have one of the Gunners' long-term transfer targets currently in situ, in Bradley Barcola, but it seems as if the Frenchman could be off to Premier League rivals, Man Utd or Liverpool.

Though any deal to take the 23-year-old to North London isn't dead in the water just yet, it's clearly going to be more difficult to land him now than it would've been a few short weeks ago.

Another target that Mikel Arteta had seemingly been coveting for the best part of a year, Morgan Rogers has joined Chelsea, after the Blues swooped with a £117m bid that would make the attacking midfielder the most expensive British transfer, just ahead of England colleague Elliot Anderson, who recently signed for Man City.

If that weren't bad enough for the club and its fans to digest, they had to see William Saliba forced out of the World Cup, and learn that he's been playing with a serious back problem for some while now, which might well require surgery, and leave him out of action for months as a result.

Some good news... at last

No wonder that some good news is needed in the red and white half of North London.

That may come in the form of Spanish World Cup winner, Nico Williams, who, it appears, has a €90m/£77m release clause in his current long-term Athletic Club contract, an amount of money well within Arsenal's reach.

With Leandro Trossard having been sold and Arsenal potentially preferring someone other than Gabriel Martinelli out on their left, it's clear that signing a wide man remains a priority.

What isn't clear at this stage is whether Williams would rebuff the Gunners in the same way he did Barcelona, when it looked for all the world as though he would be signing for the Catalans.

New season starts in a month

The new Premier League season starts in a month, and notwithstanding that an injury-prone Williams is due a rest after his World Cup exertions, Arsenal will want to know how the land lies as quickly as possible.

Aside from the various injury problems that saw him miss 19 matches last season, and which have to be a consideration when making a final decision on him, what would the North Londoners be getting for their money?

For a start, Williams has plundered 35 goals and provided 32 assists since the start of the 2022/23 campaign.

With pace to burn, too, he is exciting to watch as he tears down Athletic's left-hand side during matches, albeit, he could sometimes take more care with his final ball.

Despite his injuries, only Dani Vivian, Yuri Berchiche and his brother, Inaki Williams, have played more than Nico's 11,158 cumulative minutes.

Arguably, had Nico been fit enough, he would've seen more time on the pitch than the aforementioned trio had managed, but such are the hazards of work when you're a player that's lightning fast from a standing start.

Pace and power from the wide man

One of only three Athletic players to have more than 100 shots on target since 22/23, Williams has a perfectly good shot conversion rate of 11.56%, with his shooting accuracy at 49.51%.

230 chances created is only one less than Alex Berenguer, who led that particular metric, whilst a 78.55% pass completion (2,666 successful from a total of 3,194) would need addressing if he were to be hired by pass master Arteta.

Whilst certain elements of the game can be taught and improved upon, not having the correct mindset and work rate puts you at a disadvantage to begin with.

At just 24 years of age, there is plenty of room left for growth, though Arsenal will definitely be encouraged by Williams' work rate.

No one in the Athletic squad over the past few seasons has contested more one-on-ones (1,764) or won more of them (785) than the winger, and only Dani Vivian has won back possession on more than Williams' 632 occasions.

Pace is generally something Arsenal have lacked at times recently, and given that speed is something that Nico has in droves, too, there are several compelling reasons for the club to push hard for this signing.

Nico Williams

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