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Nico Williams to Barcelona: Four devastating ways Hansi Flick can line up supercharged Blaugrana
Analysis
Barcelona are close to signing Nico Williams.
Barcelona won La Liga and the Copa del Rey last season and this year want to go one better and win The Treble.
To do this they've already signed goalkeeper Joan Garcia, now Nico Williams is likely to finally leave Athletic Club and join their formidable squad.
Current ETV
Nico Williams
M (L)
Athletic
Nico Williams
M (L)
Athletic
ETV Range
€63.5M - €77.7M
But how could Barcelona line-up with Nico Williams? Obviously the standard idea would be for him to rotate in on the wing spots, allowing one of Lamine Yamal or Raphinha to get some rest without drastically decreasing the quality on the pitch and keeping all three men fresh for the whole season.
However we've come up with four alternative ways Barcelona could line-up to make the most of having Nico Williams in the team.
The Death Lineup (4-2-3-1)
Barcelona spent 2024/25 with Raphinha operating as a left-winger, but not always. The Brazilian could cut infield often, charging intro the space vacated by Robert Lewandowski as the Polish striker dropped deep.
This was tremendously successful and led to many goals for Raphinha and Barcelona, but it did mean that the Blaugrana rarely built attacks down the left.
Everything went right through Lamine Yamal, or Alejandro Balde pushed up super high on the left to be the winger, which was always awkward as he's not amazing on the ball and it left Barcelona more vulnerable to counter-attacks.
Nico Williams allows for a significant change: they can just play Raphinha in the middle. Whether as a false nine or, more likely, a 10 behind Lewandowski.
Nico's ability to dominate a flank like Lamine Yamal, his ability to penetrate and massacre opponents 1-v-1 to create goals or assists will stretch the pitch wide as opponents scramble to cover both wingers. He's a genius you simply have to account for.
STATS
Nico Williams
M (L)
Athletic
Nico Williams
M (L)
Athletic
And this? It opens up the middle of the pitch, creating even more spaces for Lewandowski and Raphinha (and Pedri!) to drive forward, penetrate, and score goals.
Meanwhile Balde can begin to operate like Kounde does on the right, ready to surge forward on the overlap or underlap, but also happy to hang back, ready to kill any counter-attacks before they get going.
This, in turn, will ease the burden on the centre-backs and allow Hansi Flick to keep playing Inigo Martinez next to Pau Cubarsi instead of bringing in the more athletic Ronald Araujo to give them better transition defence.
This may not be something Barcelona do all the time, but like the Golden State Warriors "Death Lineup" from a decade ago, expect to see the Blaugrana use this in those crucial last 30 minutes of games, or even from the start against the toughest opponents, to inflict maximum damage.
Old-School (4-3-3)
Part of the reason Barcelona have moved away from 4-3-3 as a base formation is it requires two dominant wingers who can handle their flank 1-v-1.
While Lamine Yamal is very much that, Raphinha's lack of dribbling ability from a standing start (which Barcelona wingers often must do, given all the deep blocks they face) means he plays the wing role differently.
This prevents a 4-3-3, but Nico Williams will enable it again. With Lamine Yamal and Nico wide, Barcelona will have constant threat with just their wingers and can have Lewandowski up-front playing like a true orthodox 9, attacking crosses in the box.
STATS
Lamine Yamal
M, AM (R)
Barcelona
Lamine Yamal
M, AM (R)
Barcelona
This allows for a more tightly packed midfield three with ball control, rather than rampant creativity, in mind. Pedri would obviously still be the conductor, but now you could see Marc Bernal as a single pivot and the combative Gavi a key piece too.
Going old-school would give Barcelona a more functional system to close games out with possession, avoiding the kind of end-to-end scenario that saw Inter snatch a stoppage time equaliser in the Champions League semi-finals.
Full Rotation (4-2-3-1)
Sometimes when you're late in the season and competing on all fronts, you need to be able to do mass rotations to keep everyone fit.
Inter did so around the Champions League semi-finals, PSG have done so on many an occasion, but Barcelona can't really do that.
They can rotate a lot of positions, but one or both of their wingers had to start because they had no back-ups and without penetration out wide, the side is stagnant and lifeless.
Nico Williams means they can now fully rotate the side, but it will still carry world-class punch and penetration out wide with Nico. Barcelona could literally ride the Basque winger to victory while resting both Lamine Yamal and Raphinha. That's huge!
The Cruyff (3-3-1-3)
Sometimes you're trying to break a great defence down and you need to think outside the box. Football's ultimate siege weapon is Johan Cruyff's 3-3-1-3 formation, and the arrival of Nico Williams makes it viable for Barcelona.
One of the key things you need to make the 3-3-1-3 work is two hard-working wingers that work defensively while also being trustworthy to manage the entire attack on their flank almost single-handedly.
STATS
Raphinha
F, AM (R), M (L)
Barcelona
Raphinha
F, AM (R), M (L)
Barcelona
Raphinha couldn't do that, but Nico can. Now you could deploy him opposite Lamine Yamal and they would each stretch the pitch, allowing your midfield diamond to outnumber and oppress their opponents.
Moreover, the 3-3-1-3 is such an open formation you can't really use it unless the whole team presses, which isn't always possible with 36 year-old Robert Lewandowski up-top.
Nico is a quality presser and, what's more, he enables Raphinha to start as the lead striker in this formation, massively increasing the amount of pressure Barcelona are able to exert without the ball, forcing opponents into hurried clearances or mistakes.
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