Arsenal chief Andrea Berta’s secret Nico Williams transfer talks emerge DAYS after taking job

Arsenal sporting director Andrea Berta is already hard at work ahead of what is expected to be a significant summer transfer window for Mikel Arteta and his team

Andrea Berta is said to have already held talks with the agent of Nico Williams, one of Arsenal’s primary transfer targets, as the club’s new sporting director gets to work ahead of the upcoming summer transfer window.

The Gunners officially confirmed Berta’s appointment on Sunday and the Italian, who has succeeded Edu in the post, was in attendance for Tuesday night’s 2-1 win over Fulham. The former Atletico Madrid transfer chief had been heavily linked with Arsenal for weeks prior to his official unveiling at the weekend.

Berta will work alongside Mikel Arteta this summer to strengthen a squad which has come agonisingly close to winning the Premier League title in successive seasons, with another near miss on the cards this term.

Much has been made of Arsenal’s desire to sign a striker. But Williams, 22, is also a long-term target for the Londoners, who are expecting a flurry of transfer activity ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.

Reports in Spain have even suggested that Berta has met with Williams’ representatives and the winger does have a £51m buy-out clause but any deal will be made difficult by the Athletic Bilbao star’s sky-high current contract, which is worth in excess of £300,000-a-week.

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A move for Williams was on the agenda last summer for Arsenal. Plans were subsequently changed when it was communicated that the Euro 2024 winner wanted to remain in Spain for another year.

But the winger is ready to push for a move this summer, with a host of clubs among Europe’s elite, including the Gunners, expected to make a pitch for his services.

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As well as interest in Williams and the club’s desire to sign an elite striker, a £51m deal for Real Sociedad playmaker Martin Zubimendi has already been lined up. And Arteta made no secret of the fact that he was expecting a ‘big summer’ earlier this week. He said: “It’s going to be a big one and we are very excited about it.

“The way we planned the five first summers, they were going to be very big and they were going to have different objectives because the turnaround of players and the objective of those windows was going to be different.

“But now when you are going to go again, we want to increase the depth of the squad but as well we want to increase the quality and the skills that we need to go to the next step.”

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