News
Transfers

Nico Williams is showcasing his huge potential at EURO 2024

Nico Williams is showcasing his huge potential at EURO 2024

Share

EURO 2024 is already proving to be the tournament where Nico Williams’ abilities are witnessed on the biggest stage and there is so much more to come.

By Kaustubh Pandey

Giovanni di Lorenzo generally doesn’t have rough days on the football pitch. A symbol of consistency for club and country for a while now, the Napoli captain witnessed a horror show against Spain last week. He was constantly turned inside out by a 21-year-old Nico Williams, who captured the eyes of many and put on a performance that people will remember for quite a while.

By the end of the game, there was a realisation in the minds of many Azzurri fans that Di Lorenzo shouldn’t play for Italy in the tournament again. Whether the Partenopei man starts for the side against Croatia, or not, remains to be seen, but it was a day when Williams tore apart arguably one of the best full-backs in the world with his pace and trickery.

The 21-year-old attempted as many as ten dribbles – four more than Lamine Yamal, who was second best at six in this regard and he too must be lauded for his performance as a 16-year-old against grown men.

There was also a good amount of final product in what the Athletic Bilbao star was doing, creating four chances and that was the highest by a single player in the game.

In a way, it is fairly rare for Spain to rely on wide forwards during international tournaments. La Roja have constantly been associated with having players that offer numerical superiority in the middle of the park by drifting inside off the ball. Williams – like Yamal, are offering something fresh and when it comes to the Bilbao man, it isn’t rare to see him do what he did last week against the reigning European champions.

Even against Croatia in Spain’s first game, Williams was constantly looking to take defenders on, as he attempted four dribbles and was only one behind Dani Olmo.

He could create only one chance and that does show that he is a volume dribbler and creates more whenever he dribbles more. The more the system allows Williams to get on the ball and do the work, the more effective he becomes as an outlet.

At Athletic Bilbao, Williams is one of the stars of the side and it is only natural that a pragmatist like coach Ernesto Valverde would tailor the system around a prized asset. While Valverde’s Bilbao side are flexible when it comes to their shape, they are generally built on a solid defensive foundation and transition quickly from defence to attack.

As a result of their approach, Bilbao had the second-best goals conceded per game metric in the 2023/24 campaign and they kept 18 cleansheets, second only to eventual champions Real Madrid.

For a player who likes to attack space, take defenders and leave them ragged, a counter-attack approach is quite perfect. To gives Williams a lot of room to play in, use and increase the amount of dribbles he executes and then create more.

The Spaniard was joint second best in the 2023/24 season for successful dribbles per 90 minutes and this freedom to be himself made sure that he was the second best assister in the competition with 11 assists.

His creation abilities have risen to the fore to a point where had the third-best Expected Assists per 90 minutes tally in the season, once again suggesting how much Valverde’s approach seems to suit the 21-year-old winger.

Valverde, who is a famed figure in Athletic Bilbao history, returned to the club in 2022 and he does deserve a fair amount of credit for how his approach has helped Williams. After all, the youngster’s numbers have picked up since then and he is slowly reaching new levels in his evolution as a player.

Valverde is fairly in touch with the values of the San Mames-based club and it is not just evidenced by Williams’ emergence. Gorka Guruzeta has come leaps and bounds and Dani Vivian has impressed to a point where he too is part of Spain’s side for EURO 2024. Experienced players like Oscar de Marcos and Yuri Berchiche also continue to perform fairly well.

It is Williams who has, perhaps, been the best indicator of how well Valverde has done at the club. The 2023/24 campaign was the very best of Williams’ career as he racked up 24 goal contributions in domestic contributions.

It is also important to note that even though Williams is a volume dribbler, he isn’t a volume shooter. He isn’t someone who takes shots away at whim, as compared to many other inside forwards of his ilk. He prefers to create for others and be precise with his creation instead of getting his shots away constantly, which comes with the added risk of breaking down play and his team losing the ball.

His name is already attracting the attention of so many across Europe and EURO 2024 will only add to his lure. The 2023/24 campaign was only his second full season at club level and while there is a long way to go, there is a foundation for a truly reliable footballer in Nico Williams.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from Euro 2024 live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

Nico Williams is showcasing his huge potential at EURO 2024

EURO 2024 is already proving to be the tournament where Nico Williams’ abilities are witnessed on the biggest stage and there is so much more to come.

By Kaustubh Pandey

Giovanni di Lorenzo generally doesn’t have rough days on the football pitch. A symbol of consistency for club and country for a while now, the Napoli captain witnessed a horror show against Spain last week. He was constantly turned inside out by a 21-year-old Nico Williams, who captured the eyes of many and put on a performance that people will remember for quite a while.

By the end of the game, there was a realisation in the minds of many Azzurri fans that Di Lorenzo shouldn’t play for Italy in the tournament again. Whether the Partenopei man starts for the side against Croatia, or not, remains to be seen, but it was a day when Williams tore apart arguably one of the best full-backs in the world with his pace and trickery.

The 21-year-old attempted as many as ten dribbles – four more than Lamine Yamal, who was second best at six in this regard and he too must be lauded for his performance as a 16-year-old against grown men.

There was also a good amount of final product in what the Athletic Bilbao star was doing, creating four chances and that was the highest by a single player in the game.

In a way, it is fairly rare for Spain to rely on wide forwards during international tournaments. La Roja have constantly been associated with having players that offer numerical superiority in the middle of the park by drifting inside off the ball. Williams – like Yamal, are offering something fresh and when it comes to the Bilbao man, it isn’t rare to see him do what he did last week against the reigning European champions.

Even against Croatia in Spain’s first game, Williams was constantly looking to take defenders on, as he attempted four dribbles and was only one behind Dani Olmo.

He could create only one chance and that does show that he is a volume dribbler and creates more whenever he dribbles more. The more the system allows Williams to get on the ball and do the work, the more effective he becomes as an outlet.

At Athletic Bilbao, Williams is one of the stars of the side and it is only natural that a pragmatist like coach Ernesto Valverde would tailor the system around a prized asset. While Valverde’s Bilbao side are flexible when it comes to their shape, they are generally built on a solid defensive foundation and transition quickly from defence to attack.

As a result of their approach, Bilbao had the second-best goals conceded per game metric in the 2023/24 campaign and they kept 18 cleansheets, second only to eventual champions Real Madrid.

For a player who likes to attack space, take defenders and leave them ragged, a counter-attack approach is quite perfect. To gives Williams a lot of room to play in, use and increase the amount of dribbles he executes and then create more.

The Spaniard was joint second best in the 2023/24 season for successful dribbles per 90 minutes and this freedom to be himself made sure that he was the second best assister in the competition with 11 assists.

His creation abilities have risen to the fore to a point where had the third-best Expected Assists per 90 minutes tally in the season, once again suggesting how much Valverde’s approach seems to suit the 21-year-old winger.

Valverde, who is a famed figure in Athletic Bilbao history, returned to the club in 2022 and he does deserve a fair amount of credit for how his approach has helped Williams. After all, the youngster’s numbers have picked up since then and he is slowly reaching new levels in his evolution as a player.

Valverde is fairly in touch with the values of the San Mames-based club and it is not just evidenced by Williams’ emergence. Gorka Guruzeta has come leaps and bounds and Dani Vivian has impressed to a point where he too is part of Spain’s side for EURO 2024. Experienced players like Oscar de Marcos and Yuri Berchiche also continue to perform fairly well.

It is Williams who has, perhaps, been the best indicator of how well Valverde has done at the club. The 2023/24 campaign was the very best of Williams’ career as he racked up 24 goal contributions in domestic contributions.

It is also important to note that even though Williams is a volume dribbler, he isn’t a volume shooter. He isn’t someone who takes shots away at whim, as compared to many other inside forwards of his ilk. He prefers to create for others and be precise with his creation instead of getting his shots away constantly, which comes with the added risk of breaking down play and his team losing the ball.

His name is already attracting the attention of so many across Europe and EURO 2024 will only add to his lure. The 2023/24 campaign was only his second full season at club level and while there is a long way to go, there is a foundation for a truly reliable footballer in Nico Williams.

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every game from Euro 2024 live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage, xG, and player ratings. Download the free app here.