Athletic Club President Jon Uriarte has fired back at the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and Barcelona over their handling of Nico Williams in recent weeks. Speculation over his future has reached fever pitch in recent weeks, and Athletic are not happy that the RFEF have not stepped in.
Spain have made their players available to the media regularly during Euro 2024, and that has meant Williams facing a number of questions about his future, and whether he would like to play with some of his La Roja teammates at Barcelona. Lamine Yamal has consistently stated that he would like to.
The public pressure was kicked up a notch by Barcelona President Joan Laporta on Monday though, when he declared that not only do Barcelona have the money to sign him, but that he was a fan of Williams. Now Uriarte has responded. He said the following as the club presented new signings Andoni Gorosabel and Alvaro Djalo, and it was released as an official statement on their website.
“Nico, a footballer very committed to Athletic Club, has been subjected to a bombardment of questions about his future in an excessive and uncontrolled manner, when he is concentrated to compete at the Euros by the Spanish Football Federation, who have not known how to protect him.”
“Respect among all the actors that make up football is a fundamental basies, or that is how we conceive it at Athletic Club, which does not have the formula of subjecting players with contracts to other clubs to public pressure to try to sign them.”
“Athletic aspires to the maximum, without limits. We are showing that we have an attractive and winning project for our footballers and coach. The proof is that we have recently renewed two of our internationals, Unai Simon (2029) and Dani Vivian (2031), Nico signed last year until 2027, and coveted players such as Oihan Sancet, Benat Prados, Julen Agirrezabala, and Aitor Paredes, to give some examples.”
“Athletic Club is economically, socially and sportingly capable of maintaining footballers of the caliber of those named in its structure, including Nico Williams.”
Relations between Barcelona and Athletic have been frosty of late, due to the Negreira scandal and the Blaugrana pursuit of Inigo Martinez, which ended with the defender signing with Barcelona for free last summer. Talk of Williams has dominated the last few weeks though, with Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool all reportedly interested in the 21-year-old.