Chelsea left-back Marc Cucurella has revealed that he has been trying to convince Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams to join Chelsea this summer.

The duo have been standout performers for Spain in Euro 2024, who face an enticing quarter-final against host country Germany on Friday.

Williams bagged an excellent first goal of the tournament against Georgia in a resounding 4-1 win in the Round of 16, which seems to have only increased the interest in him.

As previously reported by TEAMtalk, Chelsea, Arsenal and Barcelona are all interested in the talented 21-year-old, who is only expected to improve as he gains experience.

Cucurella believes Williams would be a ‘great signing’ for Barcelona but admits he hopes he joins him at Chelsea, who have made signing a new winger one of their priorities for the summer.

“He is a great player, he is bringing out all his potential,” Cucurella told Spanish outlet Sport when questioned about Williams.

“It is a source of pride that he is on our team, that he is our teammate and with players like him everything is easier.

“He would be a great signing [for Barcelona], but it all depends on what he wants. I’ve been telling him to sign for Chelsea.

“In the end everything depends on him, he is very young, with a lot of experience. I think he will be a great player.”

 

Cucurella reveals Enzo Maresca hope

Williams has a €58m (£49.2m) release clause in his contract with Bilbao and a number of clubs are considering triggering it, including the Blues.

For now though, the youngster’s full focus is on winning the Euros with Spain, and so too is Cucurella’s.

Looking ahead to Spain’s clash with Germany, Cucurella added: “It will be a very open match, which can be decided by small details.

“We play these one-on-one matches very well. We played two good matches against important rivals like Croatia and Italy and we must correct what we failed at, improve because it will be a demanding match and hopefully we will win.”

Cucurella will be playing under new Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca in the coming campaign and he’s looking forward to working with the former Leicester man.

“‘A good coach has come and we need a bit of patience, not to make so many changes, to be more calm,” Cucurella said.

“We finished the season very well, in Europe, and then we played a final and a semi-final. We didn’t win, but the year wasn’t bad. Hopefully we can build something good.”

Cucurella has also offered his support to 18-year-old striker Marc Guiu, who completed a £5m move to Chelsea from Barcelona earlier this week.

“We spoke and I told him that if he needed anything, he should let me know,” the left-back added.

“I’m happy because he’s a great player, very young, with a very promising future and we’re going to take care of him so that he can play his best football.”