Arsenal receive huge transfer boost as Gunners are ‘closer’ to £50m top target than Bayern Munich
Arsenal have been handed big boost in the race to sign Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams as they are ‘closer’ than Bayern Munich to the signing, according to Sport Bild journalist Christian Falk.
The Gunners are having a decent season in the Premier League but Mikel Arteta’s side are likely to finish a third season in a row as runners-up.
Second-placed Arsenal are currently 12 points behind leaders Liverpool with only nine matches remaining and it would take a monumental collapse from the Reds – who have only lost once in the Premier League all season – to allow the Gunners back into the title race now.
Arteta and new sporting director Andrea Berta will be looking to sign a new centre-forward in the summer but a top winger is also on their priority list.
And Athletic Bilbao star Williams is understood to be their top target and fan will be pleased to know that Arsenal are ‘closer to a move’ than Bayern Munich after it had been claimed that the German club ‘are in the lead’ for the Spain international.
Falk wrote in his Caught Offside column: ‘❌Not True: Bayern Munich are in the lead for Nico Williams. I think, at the moment, Williams is closer to a move to Arsenal than Bayern Munich, as the Bundesliga club can’t be as concrete as they would like as things currently stand.
‘Williams is still very high on the list at Bayern, but Max Eberl, head of sport, has to sell players first. They want to sell Kingsley Coman (linked to Tottenham, Newcastle and Saudi Arabia). If they can manage this, they could take the money and use it to help sign Williams.
‘Serge Gnabry is also on the for-sale list, but no club is interested at the moment. So, Bayern have to wait and see if they can make a sale for Coman.
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‘There’s also Leroy Sane’s situation to consider given he’ll be a free agent this summer. Bayern will then need one more left winger, which is why Nico Williams is the big idea in Munich. There are talks with Arsenal over Sane’s future and some Liverpool interest.
‘Bayern will sit at the table but there’s no decision coming out of the club at the moment with regard to whether or not they’ll give him a new contract. If he does sign a new contract, he’ll have to do so for less than €20m per annum. Sane will decide what is in his best interests.
‘Sane would like to stay at Bayern Munich, as he’s very close with Alphonso Davies and Jamal Musiala (both of whom have signed new contracts). They’re a close-knit group that would like to win the Champions League together, but, in the end, friendship doesn’t decide your future in football. It goes without saying that it tends to come down to the financial and sporting aspects.’
But Arsenal legend Alan Smith would be surprised if the Gunners chose to sign Williams in the summer because he could end up sitting on the bench.
Smith said: “Nico Williams can play on that side but when Saka’s back, it’s such a difficult conundrum really when you try to find an understudy for an automatic starter in Saka.”
“Nico Williams wouldn’t be wanting to come to a club and then find himself sitting on the bench. He’s obviously a very good young player, so again, whether Arsenal will pursue something like that, I’m not sure. They’ve got to tread a fine line in the transfer market at the moment and I’m sure they’re thinking about it all the time, especially at this moment in the season when things aren’t great.”
“I would be a little surprised if Nico Williams came, I’ve gotta say. Whether he can play in a central position or on the wings, I don’t know but certainly when Saka’s fit, he’s not going to get in on the right.”
