Liverpool are set to abandon their pursuit of Athletic Bilbao wonderkid Nico Williams according to reports.
The raw Spaniard came through the ranks in the Basque region, and featured 34 times - mostly as a substitute - in La Liga last term.
He is the brother of Bilbao legend Inaki, who signed a nine-year contract with the club and hasn’t missed a single match of league football for half a decade.
But Nico is making a name for himself too, he may be yet to register a goal in Spain’s top division, but scored three goals in the Supercopa de Espana and the Copa del Rey last season.
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“I think he is a player with great qualities,” former Athletic coach Marcelino Garcia Toral says of the Spain U21 international. “And then he is daring.”
Liverpool were looking to sign the young forward this summer, with a price tag of £35m rumoured for the primarily right-sided player.
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But the side have been put off with Bilbao holding out for £42m according to AS, which is incidentally Williams’ current mandatory release clause.
The forward certainly has confidence that he can go to the top level, even comparing himself to the greats of today’s game.
“My brother (Inaki) is more physical. He has a lot of pace. I’m a dribbler, like Neymar, (Ousmane Dembele) and Kylian Mbappe,” Nico told TV3 a couple of weeks ago before insisting that he is not thinking about a move away from Athletic Club yet.
It would certainly be a risk for Liverpool to invest in such an unproven talent, but the Reds are lacking a like-for-like right-sided back-up for Mohamed Salah in their squad at the moment.
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Harvey Elliott, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz could do a job out there, but maybe bringing in a player to learn and be nurtured by the Egyptian could be a move Jurgen Klopp will make next summer, if not this one.
It is one to keep an eye on, but probably not for this transfer window.
Chris Stonadge