Athletic Club manager Ernesto Valverde has insisted he is relaxed about persistent speculation linking Nico Williams with a summer transfer.

Williams was heavily linked with a move away from the Basque Country even before his stellar performances at Euro 2024 helped Spain to a record fourth European Championship. Since that triumph, Barcelona have been tipped to sign the winger, while Arsenal and Chelsea are also said to retain an interest.

But ex-Barca boss Valverde has claimed he is ‘calm’ about the situation, and urged Athletic fans to ignore ongoing transfer gossip.

“I’m calm, just like before. I know that the transfer window closes on August 31. We are going to try to improve our team and the rest of the teams will do the same,” Valverde said.

“We already know that Nico is good, we’ll see what happens because every day something new comes out in the press and what we can’t do is let ourselves be guided by that, but simply by the things that happen.”

Williams, the younger brother of Ghana forward Inaki, has spent his whole career with Athletic having first joined their academy system as an 11-year-old.

He has made 122 senior appearances for Athletic, scoring 20 goals. He also played a crucial role in their Copa del Rey triumph of 2023/24 in which they defeated Mallorca in the final on penalties – he was named player of the match in both the Copa del Rey and Euro 2024 finals earlier this summer.

Meanwhile, Barcelona are continuing their push to sign Williams’ Spain teammate Dani Olmo from RB Leipzig, though they have not yet reached an agreement over a transfer fee with the Bundesliga side.

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