Nico Williams stays at Athletic Club until 2035
In an unexpected turn, Nico Williams has signed a contract extension with Athletic Club, thus dismissing offers from Barcelona to sign him this summer. The agreement, announced on Friday, ensures the talented winger’s permanence in the Basque team until the year 2035. Barcelona’s sporting director, Deco, had expressed Williams’ strong “desire to join” the Catalan club. Even president Joan Laporta was willing to pay the player’s release clause, set at 58 million euros (68.3 million dollars). Williams’ new termination clause, after the renewal, is “more than 50% higher than the previous one”. The 22-year-old Spanish international has been the subject of interest from Barcelona for a long time, who tried to sign him last summer. The situation seemed set to materialize this year, so much so that even Athletic fans had expressed their discontent, even vandalizing a mural featuring the player. However, Williams decided to stay at the club where he trained from the age of 11 and where he plays alongside his brother, Iñaki Williams, also an international.Since his debut with Athletic’s first team in 2021, Williams has played 167 matches, scoring 31 goals. In addition, he was part of the team that won the Copa del Rey in 2024, breaking a 40-year drought of major titles. Williams has also become a key player for the Spanish national team, with 28 call-ups and six goals, one of them in the Euro 2024 final against England. In the national team, he has forged a close relationship with several Barcelona players, such as Lamine Yamal, Alejandro Balde, and Pedri. Last year, Williams revealed that Yamal and Balde had pressured him to join Barcelona. Yamal even published several Instagram stories related to Williams in an attempt to convince him. Barcelona will now have to look for other options, as Deco stated in May that the club’s priority was to sign a winger to reinforce the attack alongside Yamal and Raphinha. The future of Luis Díaz, from Liverpool, is also up in the air.When you have to make decisions, what weighs the most is the heart. I am where I want to be, with my people, this is my home. ¡Aupa Athletic!
Nico Williams
