Aston Villa at new level with Nico Williams links as Barcelona transfer hijack analysed
Aston Villa are unlikely to hijack Nico Williams’ transfer to Barcelona as the player would prefer to remain in Spain, according to Alan Hutton.
Villa are known admirers of the winger, with reports suggesting Unai Emery had pushed his recruitment team to sign the Athletic Bilbao star before he won the European Championship with Spain this summer [GiveMeSport, 24 April].
However, the 22-year-old now looks set to join Barcelona this summer with Fabrizio Romano (22 July) reporting that the European giants are increasingly confident Williams will give a move to Catalonia the greenlight.
Although Hutton admits Villa may regret not getting this deal over the line before the Euros, he is happy to see Emery’s side linked with transfers for players of this calibre having qualified for the Champions League.
“I think hindsight is a wonderful thing,” Hutton exclusively told Villa News.
“I’d read that they were interested in him before the Euros and ideally that’s when you would have got him because his stock is so high at this moment in time.
“He had an outstanding Euros so you totally get it and if I’m honest I think he would pick Barcelona.
“It’s no dig to Villa at all because they’re a huge club as I know, they’re playing in the Champions League, but that’s a league he’s familiar with and he knows Barcelona are one of the biggest clubs in the world.
“If they’re interested and financially they can afford it, then he would probably enjoy linking up with them this summer.
“But it was nice to see Villa being linked with these kind of superstars because this is the level that they’re now getting to, so that was good to see.”
Will Aston Villa sign Nico Williams amid Barcelona transfer update?
This summer was always going to be incredibly important for Villa as they need to make the right additions to Emery’s squad so that they don’t leave themselves short of quality in the Champions League.
But with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability regulations being as strict as they are, the Villans weren’t able to splash the money in the early stages of the window as they might have done in the past.
Williams would have been the perfect replacement for Moussa Diaby this summer, but his displays in this summer’s Euros were always going to hurt Villa’s chances of getting a deal over the line.
Hopefully, Emery’s side will quickly move on to alternate targets so that they are ready to hit the ground running at the start of next season.
In other Aston Villa news, Emery has been told to make a call about Lucas Digne and Alex Moreno’s futures after new transfer developments
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