Paying PSG and Tottenham Target’s High Release Clause Looks Justified, Expert Says | OneFootball

Paris Saint-Germain aim to bolster their wing play following Kylian Mbappé’s imminent move to Real Madrid this summer. Recent reports suggest the Ligue 1 champions are eyeing replacements, with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia among those linked.

However, negotiations with Napoli have proven challenging, prompting PSG to consider alternative options. One emerging candidate is Athletic Club’s Nico Williams, drawing attention due to his ties with Spanish football and likely monitoring by manager Luis Enrique.

According to CaughtOffside, several top clubs, including Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham, Barcelona, and PSG, have shown interest in the 21-year-old winger.

Jonathan Johnson from CBS Sports spoke on the latest episode of PSG Talking and weighed in about the possibility of Williams coming to the French capital this summer.

“Nico Williams is somebody who’s been linked with a number of Premier League clubs as well,” Johnson said. “The issue with somebody like that, when you look at where he is right now, Athletic Club are known for not needing to do anything in terms of negotiating the sales of their players.

“They literally say the same thing to every single club that comes forward for any of their homegrown talents and that’s that you pay the release clause or the player doesn’t move, and the release clause, although he’s an extremely talented player, is pretty high.

“So I think that’s initially something that, you know, we’ll see a lot of clubs pump the brakes when looking at him, but he does look every bit the kind of player who could justify that kind of price tag in the future. So it could be a question of which club is able to do a deal like that now, because they won’t look like they were ripped off.”

The winger has a €58 million release clause, so it will be interesting to see what club decides to pay that sum. Williams played 37 matches across all competitions, scoring nine goals and registering 19 assists.