Liverpool Renew Interest in Nico Williams Amid Salah Succession Hunt

The names keep looping around Liverpool’s transfer radar, but one refuses to fade. Nico Williams is back in the frame.

The World Cup winner, long linked with a move away from Athletic Club, has re-emerged on Liverpool’s shortlist as the club continue the complicated task of replacing Mohamed Salah. The search has become a summer saga. The need is obvious. The solution, less so.

Bradley Barcola of PSG remains the preferred option, the forward Liverpool have pushed hardest for so far. Yet the market is tight, and when elite wide forwards are in short supply, old dossiers get pulled back off the shelf. Williams’ file is clearly near the top.

Arsenal step on the gas

Liverpool are not alone at the table. Far from it.

Transfer reporter Ekrem Konur says Liverpool have renewed their interest in the 24-year-old, but also makes it clear they are not currently in pole position. Posting on X, he stated that Arsenal’s pursuit is “more advanced,” with the London club having made fresh contact for the winger.

Konur adds that Arsenal’s sporting director, Andrea Berta, is assessing whether a deal can be done. The numbers are straightforward, if not exactly modest: Williams’ contract at Athletic Club carries a £77 million release clause. It is a figure several Premier League clubs, including Arsenal, can realistically trigger.

That clause is the key. It removes the haggling but not the risk.

The contract that changed everything

A year ago, Williams looked set for Barcelona. He had become one of the most coveted young wide forwards in Europe, and a move to Camp Nou felt almost inevitable.

Then came the twist. Instead of leaving, he signed a remarkable ten-year deal to stay in Bilbao, tying him to Athletic Club until 2035. The Basque side locked down their star, but they did so with that £77m escape hatch embedded in the small print.

For a club like Liverpool, that clause offers clarity. Pay it or walk away. No middle ground, no slow-burn negotiations with a notoriously stubborn seller.

The question is whether his output justifies the outlay.

Production vs potential

On pure talent, there is no debate. Williams has the tools that make recruitment departments lean forward in their chairs: blistering pace, balance, the ability to beat a man on the outside or cut in and combine. At his best, he stretches a back line to breaking point.

The 2023/24 campaign showed exactly why Europe’s elite lined up for him. He delivered 18 direct goal involvements in 31 league games for Athletic Club, then carried that form into the international arena, emerging as one of Spain’s standout performers during their EURO 2024 triumph.

Since then, though, the numbers have cooled.

Across his last two league seasons, Williams has produced a combined ten goal involvements: 5 goals and 5 assists in 2024/25, followed by 6 goals and 4 assists in 2025/26. Solid, but not the devastating return expected from a £77m winger. He has never scored more than 11 goals in all competitions in a single season.

For a club trying to replace Salah’s end product, that matters.

Salah, even in a campaign framed as a step down from his peak, still left Anfield last season with 12 goals and 10 assists. That is the standard Liverpool’s next right-sided forward will be judged against, fair or not.

The Salah question

This is the crux of Liverpool’s dilemma. Do they pay a premium for a player who offers chaos, acceleration and upside, but whose final numbers remain short of elite? Or do they hold out for a more proven finisher, even if that player lacks Williams’ explosive profile?

Williams looks like a winger built for a high-tempo, front-foot side. He can carry the ball 40 yards in a flash. He can turn a flat game with one sprint. Yet Liverpool’s attack under new leadership cannot rely solely on potential and promise. It needs goals and assists now.

The club’s recruitment model has always been about catching players just before they explode, not after. Williams still fits that age and development curve. The concern is whether the price tag reflects what he is now or what he might become.

Liverpool know exactly what they have lost in Salah. The next move will reveal how much of that output they believe they can replace with pure talent and time.