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For the past few weeks, several claims from the Spanish press have stated Aston Villa are one of the candidates in the race to sign Athletic Club star Nico Williams.

The winger’s deal expires in 2024 and El Correo reported last month that the La Liga side are aware of the danger of losing him to the Villans. On November 10th, Sport stated Unai Emery’s side are willing to pay the fee required to secure the player in January.

AS now point out Aston Villa’s desire to sign the 21-year-old and add that they are one of the clubs to have ‘tempted’ him ‘in recent months’.

The Premier League side are joined by Liverpool and Barcelona, while Real Madrid are also attentive to the Spain international. A potential deal seems to be difficult to carry out.

That’s because AS state there’s ‘open negotiations’ between the Basque club and Williams’ agent for a contract extension, and Athletic sporting director Mikel González ‘trusts’ his renewal should be sorted out soon.

“There’s a lot of noise around Nico, who is young and is a starter in the national team and we see him and his surroundings very happy at Athletic, and very focused. The normal thing is that everything ends well if the club and the player want him to stay,” he told DAZN, relayed by AS.

With the player ‘tempted’ by Aston Villa and others, it’s down to the interested parties to convince him to not renew his contract at Athletic, or at least only do so with a reasonable buyout clause.

Williams has managed a goal and seven assists from 10 games this season.