La Liga winger turns down Real Madrid approach in favour of Barcelona | OneFootball

Real Madrid have been very active in the summer so far, completing three new signings already while working on more.

A new left-back and a central midfielder are seen as the next priorities for Los Blancos, but they are also not ruling out the possibility of adding a new forward.

After all, there are question marks over the continuity of Rodrygo, who finds himself on the radars of Premier League bigwigs Arsenal.

Real Madrid knocked back by Nico Williams

To that end, Catalunya Radio claims that Real Madrid had set their sights on Athletic Club and Spain winger Nico Williams this summer.

Indeed, as per the update, the Merengues held an interest in the 22-year-old winger who has a €58 million release clause which rises to €62 million after adjusting for inflation.

Real Madrid had approached the player and were understood to be willing to activate his release clause as well.

Nico Williams has rejected Real Madrid. (Photo by Ion Alcoba Beitia/Getty Images)

However, the Spanish capital giants were rejected by Nico, who made it clear that the only La Liga club he would consider joining if he left Athletic would be Barcelona.

The new La Liga champions were interested in the Spaniard last summer but concerns over the Fair Play situation and registration meant that the player opted against the move.

However, it now appears that Nico is willing to make the leap to Barcelona and in order to secure that transfer, the 22-year-old speedster turned down an approach from Real Madrid.

Given that the Athletic Club ace is firm on signing for the Catalans, it appears unlikely that Real Madrid will revisit their interest in him.

However, it will be interesting to see if Xabi Alonso & co. go after another forward in the coming weeks, although much will likely depend on Rodrygo’s decision.