Athletic Club expect Nico Williams to join training in two weeks despite Barcelona links

The future of Nico Williams has become the soap opera of the summer. The Athletic Club winger’s excellent season for club and country has made him a sought-after player with Barcelona and PSG pushing for his signing.

At the same time, though, Athletic Club have been fighting hard to retain his services at least for one more season.

Contradicting reports have been doing the rounds regarding the 22-year-old winger’s future over the past few days, with some suggesting he will stay in the Basque country while some claim he will join Barcelona.

Athletic Club calm about Nico Williams

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has expressed confidence that the club have the means to activate Nico Williams’ €58 million release clause and sign him in the summer.

However, according to Mundo Deportivo, Athletic Club remain calm about Nico’s situation. The Basque outfit continue to work with the idea of having him back on 12 August, when he is scheduled to be at Lezama along with Vivian to start pre-season.

It must be taken into account that he finished the previous season on 14 July with the final of the European Championship won by Spain, in which he played a decisive role by scoring the first goal and is currently on vacation with Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal.

Athletic Club manager Ernesto Valverde affirmed that he expects Nico to join training with the squad in a press conference earlier this month despite all the speculations over his future – a stance shared by the club as well.

“We are waiting for him to train. We aspire to have the best players, Nico has a contract with Athletic, we are happy with him and he is happy with us,” said the coach.

A week later after Valverde’s statements, Oscar de Marcos, Athletic’s captain, ratified these same words with a speech that was soft in form but forceful in substance.

“He is an Athletic player, we are confident that he will stay with us. My opinion is that the best thing for him is to continue with Athletic,” he said.

Los Leones play their first league game on the 15th against Getafe at San Mames. They do not expect Nico to be available for this game, but it is possible that the winger could be available for the next one, against Barça on the 24th at the Olimpic Lluis Companys.