CHELSEA are on the trail of Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams as they start ramping up summer transfer plans.
The Blues need a bustling centre forward but are acutely aware of how much that would cost them with Brentord’s Ivan Toney rated at around £100million.
EPAChelsea are tracking Nico Williams[/caption]
EPAThe winger plays alongside his brother Inaki, right, at Athletic Bilbao[/caption]
Williams, 21, has a get-out clause in his contract set at around £43 million but he does earn around £100k a week after tax in Spain.
He would also fit into Chelsea’s transfer strategy of buying up young, promising players and putting them on long contracts to help subsidise the wage bill.
Williams can play on either flank and has scored six goals in LaLiga this season.
Chelsea have plenty of widemen and may have to sell before they can buy new players in the summer.
Mykhailo Mudryk, Raheem Sterling, Noni Madueke and even forward Christopher Nkunku have been employed on the flanks this season. Williams has also attracted interest from Arsenal.
Liverpool have also been credited with interest in the winger to provide further competition to the likes of Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota.
Chelsea have been linked with a move for Toney and also Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and Sporting Lisbon’s Viktor Gyokeres.
Williams is currently playing alongside his brother Inaki Williams in Spain.
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The two are arguably the best players at Bilbao and prove to be an exciting pair of wingers.
Inaki represents Ghana on an international while Nico plays for Spain.
They are also keen on giving back to their community back in Ghana.
The brothers built a school in their native country to help provide opportunities to local children.
The school is based in Pokuase, a suburb of capital city Accra.
Along with the construction, the footballers also donated an amount of Bilbao shirts to the community.
They have also entered the hospitality industry having built a hotel in Accra, named after the Bilbao 39,000 seater San Names stadium.
