La Liga winger ‘made the right decision’ by rejecting Barcelona, insists ex-teammate | OneFootball

Barcelona made easy work of Athletic Club in their recent La Liga match, which also happened to be the first game at the renovated Spotify Camp Nou.

Hansi Flick’s men scored four goals, giving the visitors almost no chance. In fact, Athletic Club did not have many chances to work with throughout the ninety minutes and were completely dominated.

One of the highlights of the game, however, was the hostile reception Nico Williams received at the venue after rejecting Barcelona at the nth minute in the recent summer transfer window.

Basque legend defends Williams

Former Athletic Club and current Olympiacos star Dani Garcia spoke to AS and defended the young winger for his decision to stay at his boyhood club over signing for Barcelona.

“They are complicated decisions to make and defend,” he began, talking about his former teammate.

“Nico made the right decision by staying in the club of his life and setting an example like [Iker] Muniain and [Oscar] De Marcos, who have always noticed them,” he added.

Dani Garcia (R) defended Nico Williams’ decision to snub Barcelona. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

The player then went on to highlight how the player can now go on to leave a mark at the Basque club and thus go down in history.

“In ten years, the kids will look up to Nico,” he said.

While indeed the player’s decision to stay at Athletic Club is understandable, it is his decision to engage with Barcelona and move ever so close to a transfer before signing a renewal that triggered rage in the Catalan capital.

So far this season, however, Williams has been far from his best and continues to fight a chronic battle with pubalgia, the same setback that plagues Barcelona star Lamine Yamal.  

In nine appearances for the Basque side in La Liga, the 23-year-old has scored just two goals and provided one assist for Ernesto Valverde’s side.

His failure to deliver, needless to say, has played a huge part in Athletic Club’s poor attacking record, which is one of the poorest in the division.