Inaki Blasts Barcelona Over Nico Transfer Tactics

Ghanaian international and captain of Athletic Club, Inaki Williams, has sharply criticised Spanish football giants FC Barcelona for how they tried to sign his younger brother, Nico Williams.

Inaki accused Barcelona of spreading lies and using underhanded tactics in their failed attempt to lure the 22-year-old winger away from Athletic Club this summer.

The saga started when Barcelona renewed their interest in Nico, having already shown strong interest in signing him last summer.

Reports claimed that while Barcelona were also keeping an eye on Liverpool’s Luis Díaz, Nico’s representatives reached out to Barcelona’s sporting director Deco to express interest in a potential move to Camp Nou.

But the deal didn’t go through. After weeks of uncertainty and Barcelona’s failure to guarantee Nico’s registration, he chose to stay in Bilbao and signed a new contract with Athletic Club, which will keep him at the club until 2035. Barcelona president Joan Laporta publicly confirmed this version of events.

However, Inaki Williams has a different story. During a pre-season interview, he openly criticised Barcelona’s approach, accusing them of trying to manipulate the situation through the media. He said their campaign was aimed at pressuring both his brother and Athletic Club.

Quoted by Football Espana, Inaki stated:
“We all know how the world of football works. They wanted to apply pressure on Athletic, on my brother. They put together a media campaign that they thought would work. I think, us, Athletic as a club, when we want a player, we do it under the radar.”

He further explained that the situation went beyond football and caused personal harm.
“It’s done a lot of damage. It’s sullied a lot of things. Many of the things that they said, that were leaked to the media or on social media, were lies. I’ll be honest, my brother had more or less taken the decision, but we still had to put together and redact a contract that was very large. To commit until 2035. You couldn’t just announce it from one day to the next.”

Inaki also revealed the situation took a dark turn, with real-world effects on his family.
“Things happened that sullied what Athletic wanted to achieve. They vandalised the mural twice, they went to my brother’s house, they broke one of the windows of his car. Things that happen that maybe people don’t know, but that have a big impact on a footballer. On what he has decided.”

He concluded by pointing out how fans often judge without knowing the full story.
“And it’s very easy, from the sofa, to say ‘why didn’t you do this?’, or ‘why didn’t you say that?’, when you’re suffering on a personal level. And my brother has suffered, and as the captain of Athletic Club, it’s not easy.”

Barcelona has not yet responded to these claims. However, this isn’t the first time the club has been accused of using media pressure to influence player transfers.