Nico Williams is set to sign a new contract at Athletic Bilbao after turning down a £43 million, £115,000-a-week contract at ambitious Premier League outfit Aston Villa.
While Dominik Szoboszlai may be the first name on the lips of many pundits when asked to name the most impressive newcomer to England’s top flight this summer, Moussa Diaby surely won’t be far behind Liverpool’s Hungarian dynamo on the podium.
The big-money arrival from Bayer Leverkusen has been outstanding in his first few weeks as an Aston Villa player. And, to think, Villa might not have gone all in on the former Bayer Leverkusen flyer had Nico Williams been a little more inclined to accept an offer which would have made him – rather than Diaby – the club’s new record signing.
Nico Williams turns down Aston Villa move
According to Estadio Deportivo, Aston Villa triggered the £43 million release clause in Williams’ release clause, while offering the Athletic Bilbao academy graduate an eye-watering £115,000-a-week contract in the Midlands.
But whoever said loyalty is dead in the modern game?
Nico took a leaf out of his older brother’s playbook; opting to stick around alongside Inaki Williams at San Mames while continuing those increasingly-fruitful talks over a new contract. With four goals in his first three games this season, meanwhile, the jet-heeled Spain international is wasting no time in letting Aston Villa know what they could have had either, even if Diaby’s dazzling displays will serve to offset Unai Emery’s disappointment.
“Everything has a process. Everything is going very well,” Williams tells Relevo about those contract talks. “I have things clear. People are calm.”
“I want to send (a message of) calmness. Tell the people to be calm, and that everything is going very well.”
Aston Villa also looked into the prospect of signing former Fulham loanee Manor Solomon on a free transfer from Shakhtar Donetsk before striking a deal for Diaby. Solomon ended up at Tottenham Hotspur instead.
“In addition to Tottenham, Aston Villa, West Ham, and RB Leipzig wanted him,” Solomon’s agent tells Sport5.
Leipzig, Shlomi Ben Ezra explains, identified Solomon ‘as a replacement’ for the Chelsea-bound Christopher Nkunku.
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