{"id":917,"date":"2025-04-18T22:20:22","date_gmt":"2025-04-18T14:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/?p=917"},"modified":"2025-04-18T22:20:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T14:20:22","slug":"arsenal-gain-ground-in-nico-williams-pursuit-as-barcelona-step-aside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/18\/arsenal-gain-ground-in-nico-williams-pursuit-as-barcelona-step-aside\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal gain ground in Nico Williams pursuit as Barcelona step aside"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"667\" src=\"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-17.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-918\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-17.png 1000w, https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-17-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-17-768x512.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal&#8217;s hopes of landing Nico Williams this summer have been given a significant lift, with reports in Spain suggesting Barcelona are no longer pursuing the Athletic Bilbao winger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 22-year-old has attracted widespread attention across Europe following his standout performances during Spain&#8217;s successful Euro campaign last year. He has since maintained his fine form at club level, playing a key role in Bilbao&#8217;s push for a top-four finish in La Liga and their quest for Europa League silverware.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mikel Arteta is understood to be a long-time admirer of Williams, with Arsenal keen to strengthen their attacking options ahead of the next campaign. The Gunners have felt the effects of a limited forward line during their current title bid and are looking to add more firepower to the squad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Barcelona had previously shown interest in signing him, having monitored him closely last summer. However, according to Marca, the Catalan club have now ruled out a move. Financial constraints and satisfaction with their current front line are reportedly behind the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under Hansi Flick, Barcelona&#8217;s attack has delivered consistently, helping the team top La Liga, reach the Champions League semi-finals, and secure a place in the Copa del Rey final \u2014 convincing the club&#8217;s board that no reinforcements are needed in that area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With one major competitor seemingly out of the picture, Arsenal may now have a clearer path to securing one of their top transfer targets for the upcoming window.<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal&#8217;s hopes of landing Nico Williams this sum [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=917"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":919,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917\/revisions\/919"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}