Nico Williams: position and style of play

Although he was born and raised in the greater Basque Country, to understand where Nico Williams has come from you have to delve deeper into his family history. Before he was born, his parents settled in Pamplona only after risking a dangerous trek from Ghana across the Sahara Desert, in search of a better life. That arduous journey led them to Spain, where their children Iñaki and Nico would emerge as elite-level footballers.

The Williams brothers became mainstays of Athletic Club’s first team (see the video below). Eight years older than Nico, Iñaki was a pioneer, as the first black player to establish a place in the Basque club’s senior side, making 450 appearances and counting as a forward. So when he says that Nico “has no ceiling” with what he can achieve, it comes from someone who knows exactly what it takes to make it at the top level. 

Born in 2002, Nico made his debut for Athletic at the age of 18 and earned his first cap for Spain shortly after his 20th birthday. In 2024, he was part of the Athletic team that ended a 40-year wait for a major trophy, winning the Copa del Rey. He then capped off a memorable season by playing a starring role in Spain’s Euro 2024 victory, scoring the first goal in the final and being named Player of the Match.

Below, our team of UEFA-licensed coaches have analysed his game, including his positions, technical attributes and style of play.

Technical analysis

Nico Williams is a right-footed attacking player who has mostly been used as a left-winger. He is versatile, however, having also played on the right side of a front line, and operated in various formations for club and country. An exceptional dribbler, he often stays wide to receive in the widest lanes of the pitch. This gives him a wider perception of the spaces available to travel in to and isolate opponents in 1v1s (below). In these positions, he likes to attack defenders directly. He uses his athleticism to take bigger touches in behind, but he is also capable of creating in tighter spaces. His use of deceptive body movements is a facet of his attacking play, creating space to travel either side of defenders.

Winger

Williams is extremely direct in wide positions. He had recorded the most dribbles per 90 minutes (10.45) after Matchday 21 of the 2024/25 La Liga season. Indeed, only Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal (181) had dribbled more in total than Williams (177) by January of the 2024/25 campaign.

When receiving, Williams often accelerates to full speed immediately. He uses his pace to force defenders on to their back foot, and then his explosiveness to progress. This is a particularly potent weapon against aggressive full-backs, with Williams able to reach full speed quickly and travel against the pressing defender’s momentum. The defender is often unable to slow down and change direction with the same efficiency as Williams.

He is equally adept in compact areas (below), where he uses stop-starts to slow defenders down and fix their feet, before quickly changing speed and direction to advance. With multiple body feints, stepovers and chops to disguise his intentions, he forces defenders to commit their body weight in one direction. From there, he can exploit space in the opposite direction with his ability to progress both inside and outside.

When breaking into the Athletic team, Williams was often used as a right-winger. There, he looked to attack defenders on their inside shoulder, creating space to accelerate into, crossing or cutting back for teammates (below). From the right, he is also comfortable travelling inside on to his left foot; when defenders overcommit to defending the outside, they leave space for him to travel into the box. Indeed, he can use both feet with a high level of reliability, which gives him an element of unpredictability in 1v1 situations.

Final-third output 

A key aspect of Williams’ game is creating for others. In the 2023/24 season, he provided the second-highest number of assists (11) in La Liga. On the left wing, he is able to exploit space on the outside of defenders by crossing with his left foot (below). After beating a defender on the outside, he will often slow down very briefly and compose himself, before making contact underneath the ball to deliver a slower cross, with height and time for teammates to attack at the back post.

When he has less space against more persistent defenders, he shows intelligence to take a very short, extra step and touch. This creates the space to deliver the same type of cross, but this time around the line of the defender’s body. His selection of a slower cross gives teammates time to attack the ball aggressively, with momentum, against more static opposition defenders. The deeper back-post target area, meanwhile, increases the chance of finding a teammate when defenders have shifted to the near post. This often leaves an overload against the opposite full-back.

Williams is also able to cross when space is available inside the pitch – either when defenders have overprotected the outside, or when he has created space inside with a body feint. There, he will typically look for an overload created against the opposition full-back at the back post. With an inswinging ball, he often supplies a flatter delivery with more velocity and speed, maintaining sufficient height to prevent defenders from cleanly intercepting. Targeting the back-post area also ensures that any mistouch from a defender risks taking the ball away from the goalkeeper, or an own goal.

Ruthlessness

One area in which Williams could improve in the final third is his chance conversion. He could certainly add a layer of ruthlessness to his attacking threat. At the time of writing, he was underperforming his career xG by 4.15, having scored 38 goals against an xG of 42.15. When shooting, he tends to cut inside from the left, opting to finish with power into the far corner, using the defender as an obstruction to the goalkeeper (below). But he has often taken shots when off balance. When combined with his preference for striking with power, this can result in reduced control, quality of contact and accuracy.

Given his reputation for hard work and humility, however, it can be expected that he will be working hard to achieve such improvements. And if his brother’s statement is correct, there is a lot more to come from Nico Williams.

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