Aston Villa ready to splash £42.7m on Nico Williams signing as Spain hotel meeting twist emerges
Aston Villa are prepared to trigger Nico Williams’ £42.7million release clause at Athletic Bilbao, according to ElDesmarque.
The Spanish news outlet reported on Wednesday (14 June) that the Villans are “determined” to sign the 20-year-old winger, who scored nine goals and supplied six assists in 43 appearances across all competitions for Athletic this season.
ElDesmarque adds that Williams’ contract at Bilbao expires next year and that his release clause is something that Villa are able to afford and willing to trigger.
It has also been suspected that a meeting has been held at a hotel in nearby Hondarribia.
In January, Unai Emery reportedly showed interest in Williams, who’s been capped eight times by Spain and played in all four of their games at the World Cup in Qatar.
He’s currently not with the Spain squad for their Nations League semi-final clash against Italy on Thursday (15 June) but he’s expected to be named in the Under-21s for the upcoming European Under-21 Championships in Georgia and Romania. On Wednesday (14 June), Villa’s Jacob Ramsey and Cameron were confirmed to be in the England squad.
Williams is a right-sided winger by trade but he can also play on the left.
Aston Villa ended up short of options in the winger areas towards the end of last season, meaning John McGinn regularly found himself in a wide role.
Leon Bailey and Bertrand Traore have both been options but neither have set the world alight at Villa Park and the latter could end up leaving Villa Park this summer. Alan Hutton told Villa News on 7 June that Emery could look to get rid of the ex-Chelsea winger.
Youri Tielemans is the only player Villa have signed so far this summer with the Belgium midfielder set to officially join on a free transfer on 1 July when his contract at Leicester expires.
Due to his release clause and contract situation in Bilbao, a quick-fire deal to sign Williams could be on the cards before Tielemans officially becomes a Villa player.
In other Aston Villa news, Villa have been tipped to complete a transfer U-turn after “really serious” news emerged.