- 35 minutes ago
Four reasons Nico Williams was right to snub Arsenal for Barcelona
Analysis
Nico Williams has rejected Arsenal in favour of joining Barcelona.
After a transfer pursuit that stretches back at least one summer, Barcelona are close to securing the Basque wing-wonder.
The Blaugrana have beaten out stiff competition from Mikel Arteta's Arsenal who were heavily linked with taking Williams to North London.
Current ETV
Nico Williams
M (L)
Athletic
Nico Williams
M (L)
Athletic
ETV Range
€63.5M - €77.7M
Arsenal had offered Nico Williams a massive contract worth €9 million a year net, i.e. after tax, in a bid to tempt him to the Emirates Stadium.
That is a sum Barcelona would have been unable to match, given their new salary structure placing Lamine Yamal's €8 million a year net contract at the top (Barcelona have said Robert Lewandowski and Frenkie de Jong's bigger contracts were the last of their kind).
However in this case money didn't talk and Nico Williams instead chose to take his talents to Catalunya, with all his suitors (including Bayern Munich) informed that Barcelona is the only club he would leave Athletic Bilbao for.
The Blaugrana have yet to trigger his €60 million release clause, but it is thought to be only a matter of time before they do.
Here are four reasons why Nico Williams picking Barcelona over Arsenal was a great decision:
1. Staying in Spain
Culture shock is an underrated explanation for transfers not working out. Sometimes the problem isn't the club or the tactics, it's the country.
People forget that footballer's are people too, and sometimes they don't take well to living in a certain country, eating a certain food or dealing with a specific kind of weather.
Nico Williams moving from the beautiful city of Bilbao, where the weather is gorgeous and the architecture stunning, to a quiet street in Islington, may not sound awful but consider the weather. It's really bad.
English weather has claimed more than one delightfully dynamic wing talent (see above) so avoiding it by moving to beautiful Barcelona is a very shrewd move from Nico Williams.
2. Friends, team-mates, countrymen!
Even if he could get over the weather, the chemistry and friendships with team-mates are not guaranteed to be done.
Sure, Mikel Merino (and Martin Zubimendi perhaps?) may be around as Spaniards to help him settle, but he's not close to either in age nor attitude.
Meanwhile in Barcelona he is friends with fully 10 members of the squad, with a further four Spaniards for him to socialise with.
He knows all of these dudes already, having played with them for years in the Spanish national team. Moreover, most of them are close to him in age and attitude, particularly Lamine Yamal, his best buddy in the national team.
Lamine Yamal has been the main cheerleader for Nico's move to Barcelona. And when one of the three best players in the world is desperate for you to join him... that's hard to turn down!
3. Avoiding Mikel Arteta's terrorball
A couple years ago, Bukayo Saka was being lauded as the heir to Mohamed Salah's throne as the best right-winger in the world.
A couple years ago, Gabriel Martinelli was on such a hype run that Arsenal fans genuinely had discussions between them whether they'd trade him for Kylian Mbappe (to say nothing of the now iconic focus pull gif with him and Pele).
Current ETV
Gabriel Martinelli
F, M (L)
Arsenal
Gabriel Martinelli
F, M (L)
Arsenal
ETV Range
€57.4M - €70.1M
Now, however, Saka is still adored but has fallen off the discussion of the very elite steps, and Martinelli is now regarded as a joke to the point that Arsenal are even trying to sign Nico to replace him in the team!
There are a variety of factors to why these two fell off, but one of them is certainly Mikel Arteta's terrorball aka the relentless physical aggression and intensity of Arsenal's football.
The focus on defending (talk to Arsenal fans about Saka's "shifts at right-back") and the lack of support in attack that often leads attackers to banging their head against deep blocks until they are punch-drunk and bleeding.
Meanwhile Barcelona are one of the two best teams in the world and are so wonderfully relentless in attack, possessing near-limitless firepower.
Picking the latter over the former is a tremendously smart decision from Williams.
4. Barcelona are bigger and better than Arsenal
Ultimately, even if you disagree with all the above (although why would you? It's all true) one thing remains unquestioned: Barcelona are a bigger football club than Arsenal.
In terms of football's hierarchy, only Real Madrid stand above the Blaugrana in terms of stature. Even the mighty Man Utd, Liverpool and Bayern Munich bow to Barcelona.
STATS
Nico Williams
M (L)
Athletic
Nico Williams
M (L)
Athletic
While both Barcelona and Arsenal made it back to the Champions League semi-final for the first time in years, their statue could not be more different.
Even in the throes of their "banter era" where they are "broke," Barcelona have won La Liga twice in the last three seasons, securing a Copa del Rey in that time as well as two Spanish Supercups. They have been sensational.
Meanwhile Arsenal haven't won the Premier League since before almost every single member of their current squad hit puberty (2004!) and haven't won a trophy of any kind since Emi Martinez and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang fired them to win the FA Cup and Community Shield in 2020.
Both men have since left the club with Aubemeyang winning La Liga (with Barcelona!) and Martinez winning the Copa America twice as well as the World Cup.
If you're a 22 year-old Nico Williams, which club are you going to be interested in joining? It's not going to be Arsenal, is it? Unless you or your family member has a connection to the Gunners or a deep hatred of Barcelona themselves, you're picking the Blaugrana, especially as they're moving back into the iconic Camp Nou this season.
The choice for Nico Williams is clear.
And he has made the correct one.
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