Athletic Club star Nico Williams names the 2 Barcelona stars who ‘kept telling me to join’

Athletic Club star Nico Williams has admitted that two leading members of the first-team ranks at Barcelona pushed hard to convince him to join the club earlier this year.

The name of wide-man Williams, of course, took its place front and centre in the media headlines throughout this past summer transfer window.

This came with the 22-year-old’s continued excellence for club and country alike having sparked widespread interest in his signature.

Barcelona, for one, pushed hard to bring Nico in for much of the summer, eager to unite the Spanish international with close friend Lamine Yamal.

In the end, the talented attacker opted to stay put, rewarded for his commitment with Athletic Club’s no.10 jersey.

As alluded to above, though, this did not come owing to a lack of trying on the part of Hansi Flick’s squad.

Speaking in an interview with La Revuelta this week, Nico was drawn once more on his summer Camp Nou links.

And the Euro 2024 winner, with a wry smile spread across his face, went on to admit that two Barcelona stars in particular made his life ‘difficult’ throughout the saga:

“It was difficult. On top of that, the ‘bastards’ of [Barca] Lamine and Balde and others didn’t help. They kept telling me to come. They would say to me ‘brother come now, come now’.”