Liverpool Eye Nico Williams as Salah Successor Amid Transfer Rumors
The names keep looping around Liverpool’s transfer rumour mill, and one of them simply refuses to go away. Nico Williams is back on the agenda.
The World Cup winner, long linked with a move away from Athletic Club, has again been flagged as a serious option as Liverpool look for a long-term replacement for Mohamed Salah. The club’s recruitment team continue to work through a shrinking list of elite right-sided forwards. Williams, once again, sits near the top of it.
PSG’s Bradley Barcola is still viewed as the primary target. That much hasn’t changed. But the market rarely moves in straight lines, and a door that looked closed for Williams is quietly being nudged open again.
Arsenal Move First, Liverpool Watch Closely
Liverpool’s interest is real, but they are not alone and not in front.
Transfer reporter Ekrem Konur has stated that the Reds are back in the frame for the 24-year-old, yet it is Arsenal who have pushed harder so far. Speaking on X, Konur outlined that Liverpool are monitoring the situation, while Arsenal’s pursuit is “more advanced.”
Arsenal, he reports, have already opened new lines of contact for the winger, with sporting director Andrea Berta examining whether a deal can be built around the £77m release clause in Williams’ contract. That figure, written into the mammoth deal he signed to stay in Bilbao until 2035, is steep but not out of reach for England’s biggest clubs. Several Premier League sides, Konur notes, can realistically meet it.
So Liverpool find themselves in familiar territory: tracking a player they like, while a direct rival tests the water first.
The Talent That Refuses to Go Away
There was a time when Nico Williams looked destined for Barcelona. Last summer, he hovered on the brink of a Camp Nou move before ripping up the script and committing to a shock ten-year contract with Athletic Club. The length of that deal screamed loyalty. The release clause whispered something else: ambition.
On the pitch, the attraction is obvious. In the 2023/24 campaign, Williams produced 18 direct goal involvements in 31 league games for Athletic Club, a return that underlined why Europe’s elite had him circled in red. He then carried that form into the international arena, emerging as one of Spain’s standout performers in their EURO 2024 triumph. On the biggest stage, under the brightest lights, he looked entirely at home.
That tournament confirmed what scouts already knew. Williams is a winger who can stretch any back line, who can turn a routine pass into panic with a single touch and burst of acceleration.
The Numbers That Complicate the Deal
Then comes the awkward part: the recent stats.
Since that breakout 2023/24 season, Williams’ production has cooled. Across his last two league campaigns, he has registered only ten goal involvements in each: 5 goals and 5 assists in 2024/25, then 6 goals and 4 assists in 2025/26. Solid numbers, but not the profile of a ruthless, guaranteed-output forward.
He has never scored more than 11 goals in all competitions in a single season. For a winger commanding a £77m release clause, that matters. For a club trying to replace the output of Mohamed Salah, it matters even more.
Salah, even in a season framed as a step down, still delivered 12 goals and 10 assists last year. That is the standard Liverpool are measuring against. Any player stepping into that right flank inherits not just a position, but a benchmark of end product that defines modern Liverpool.
So the question is blunt: does Williams’ ceiling justify the fee, or are Liverpool paying for what he might become rather than what he consistently is?
Why Liverpool Keep Coming Back
Liverpool’s recruitment underlines potential as much as proven output. Williams fits that pattern. His pace is electric, his dribbling sharp, his ability to isolate and beat full-backs tailor-made for a high-tempo, front-foot side. He stretches the pitch, creates space for others, and forces defenders into mistakes.
What he doesn’t yet offer is Salah’s cold efficiency in front of goal. The numbers say it clearly. The eye test, though, hints at a player who could explode in the right structure, surrounded by higher-calibre finishers and given licence to attack relentlessly.
That is the gamble on the table. Arsenal are weighing it now. Liverpool are considering whether to turn long-standing admiration into a concrete bid.
If they decide that £77m is the price of potential and not an overpayment for inconsistency, the battle for Nico Williams will move from whispers to a straight fight between Premier League heavyweights. And for a club still searching for the next great Anfield winger, how long can Liverpool afford to keep watching from the fringes?
