Nico Williams seems set to make a big money move this summer. The Athletic Club winger has been linked heavily with a move to Barcelona, or a switch to the Premier League with either Arsenal or Liverpool.
But is signing Williams in 2025 a risk?
This is nothing new for Williams, who was linked with all three clubs last summer. Barcelona were notably and openly pursuing him after his heroics helped Spain win Euro 2024.
But the Catalan club’s financial problems meant they couldn’t guarantee Williams’ registration, and so rather than be left in limbo (as Barcelona’s other summer signing Dani Olmo was on multiple occasions) Williams chose to stay and renew with his beloved boyhood club Athletic, donning their number 10 shirt in the process.
Now a season has passed and Barcelona, Liverpool and Arsenal are coming back in for Williams, with the Premier League sides more loudly linked with him as the feeling is now he is ready to leave Athletic.
But they may need to watch out.
Buyer Beware: Nico Williams has a big problem
Nico Williams in summer 2025 is not the same as Nico Williams in summer 2024.
Not that he is bad or anything, he’s obviously still a quality player with a superb skill-set, but last year he had an almost indescribable and unquantifiable momentum.
Williams was an inescapable presence in the summer of 2024. He had just come off an impressive season for Athletic Club where he had 5 goals and 11 assists with an xG of 6.0 and and xAG of 5.7.
He was a creative powerhouse and of course was one of the driving forces behind Spain’s big win at Euro 2024 alongside his great friend Lamine Yamal.
This season? Williams does not have that same kind of momentum at all. Watching him feels like you’re watching a man running through molasses.
Williams has just 5 goals and 5 assists off an xG of 3.9 and an xAG of 3.5. He just flat-out is not as productive. In terms of take-ons, he has completed 63 this season compared to 86 last term, and he was far more efficient last term winning 44.6% of his 193 take-ons compared to this season where he’s won just 36% of 175. His shot creating actions are down (64 to 72) as are his goal creating action (13 to 24).
These numbers can feel too granular, but they are descriptive of the way he’s been playing. There’s no way Nico Williams of 23/24 would have let Man Utd walk out of San Mames with an 0-3 victory, that’s for sure. And now he’s injured and out of the return leg there’s nothing he can do about Athletic’s almost certain elimination.
Williams injury concerns?
Williams has allegedly been playing with a sports hernia, which would explain why he looks worse this season, but also illustrates the danger of waiting to make your big move.
Surgery to fix a sports hernia could rule him out for up to three months, completely disrupting his summer break and any pre-season plans with a new club.
This would then roll over into the new season and make his adaptation, especially if he were to move to the helter skelter of the Premier League, infinitely more difficult.
But if he were to follow a conservative treatment plan, he would risk allowing the injury to persist and destroy his athletic burst. This aversion to surgery is exactly what has seen Ansu Fati’s stock tumble, as he has lost the explosiveness that made him so dangerous. If Nico Williams loses his explosiveness then he becomes half the player he was.
Sometimes when the time is right to move, the time is right. Waiting can often lead to a regression, as has happened this year with Williams.
Obviously he wanted to play in the Europa League with Athletic, and try to reach the final which is in San Mames, but were these goals worth disrupting his momentum?
It’s possible he makes his move this summer (to any of the three clubs linked with him) and simply picks up where he left off in 2023/24. But it’s also possible that he has simply lost that incredible momentum that would have seen him hit his new club like a sledgehammer.
The hernia issue is going to cloud his summer and could even disrupt his chances of getting a move at all, leading to another season stuck in San Mames where his momentum would be even further arrested. And if he does get the move… will he have the physical health and momentum to give his very best?
Like Eminem said: you only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime.
Has Nico Williams missed his moment?
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