Nico Williams – player profile of the Spain winger (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
The race to sign Nico Williams appears to be hotting up, but who is the Athletic Bilbao and Spain winger that big clubs like Arsenal and Bayern Munich are so keen on?
Williams looks like he’ll be one to watch closely in the weeks ahead, so read on to get all the info you need on the in-demand 22-year-old who’s been lighting up La Liga…
Who is Nico Williams? Background and early career
Williams is a left-winger or wide forward who plays for Athletic Bilbao and the Spanish national team.
Born to Ghanaian refugee parents, Williams’ brother Inaki Williams is also at Athletic Bilbao, but represents Ghana at international level.
Williams has also been on the books at Osasuna and Pamplona at youth level, before getting his first-team breakthrough at Athletic in 2020.
It wasn’t really until the 2021/22 season that Williams began to establish himself as a regular for his club, with the player featuring 40 times that season and scoring three goals.
From there, he hasn’t looked back, becoming a full Spain international in 2022 and having a great 2024, when he won both the Copa del Rey with his club, and the European Championships with his country, scoring in the 2-1 win over England in the final.
Career stats and achievements
Williams has now played 167 games for Athletic, scoring 31 goals, including 11 in the season just gone.
For Spain, the young attacker has six goals in 28 caps. His form at last summer’s Euros saw him named in the team of the tournament.
Appearances
Goals
Athletic Bilbao
167
31
Spain
28
6
Williams has also featured in the Europa League team of the season for 2024/25, even if his side were knocked out by Manchester United in the semi-finals.
WhoScored describe Williams as a player who likes to dribble, which is also listed as an area he’s ‘very strong’ in, while he’s also noted as being strong on crosses and key passes, which would explain his strong return of nine assists in the season just gone.
Nico Williams vs Roma ?#UEL pic.twitter.com/86qzRWwzUI
— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) June 7, 2025
2025 summer transfer window
Williams seems like he’s clearly too good not to be targeted by Europe’s elite at some point, and there’s long been extensive coverage of Arsenal being fans of his.
Charles Watts wrote about Mikel Arteta wanting to sign Williams in his exclusive CaughtOffside column, and now Fabrizio Romano has posted this about the Spaniard today…
??? Bayern top target for this summer remains Nico Williams, who’s also top of Arsenal list.
Bayern met his camp twice this month; more meetings will follow.
€58m clause but salary requests will be key difficult point.
???? Athletic Club are also set to offer him new deal. pic.twitter.com/yhu9BLiLlF
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 12, 2025
It looks like Bayern might be the most likely destination for Williams at the moment, but he looks perfect for Arsenal and Romano seems to be suggesting they’re not out of it yet.
It will also be interesting to see if the 22-year-old can be persuaded to sign a new contract with his boyhood club.
After all, Williams rejected offers to leave last summer, and told L’Equipe he had no regrets about his decision, saying: “The relationship we have with this club is incredible and I don’t think I’ll find this atmosphere anywhere else.”
/https%3A%2F%2Fsportsmole-media-prod.s3.gra.io.cloud.ovh.net%2F25%2F13%2Frobert-lewandowski.jpg?w=350&resize=350,250&ssl=1 "Lewandowski transfer truth revealed as Barcelona striker’s")
/https%3A%2F%2Fsportsmole-media-prod.s3.gra.io.cloud.ovh.net%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F09%2Fimago1065535167-1-68b8c482ef2f3177088817.jpg?w=350&resize=350,250&ssl=1 "Competition for Chelsea: Real Madrid eyeing ‘€60m-rated’")
