{"id":56006,"date":"2026-07-16T12:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/56006\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T12:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:52:10","slug":"nico-williams-opens-up-on-failed-barcelona-move-i-made-the-right-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/56006\/","title":{"rendered":"Nico Williams opens up on failed Barcelona move: ‘I made the right decision’"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been a year since Barcelona attempted to sign Nico Williams from Athletic Club, only to fail once again, with the player eventually signing a long-term contract extension.<\/p>\n

A year on, Nico, as well as his brother, Inaki Williams, have offered details into his failed move to Barcelona, as revealed in the RTVE documentary.<\/p>\n

What happened last summer?<\/p>\n

Nico, who eventually committed his future to Athletic until 2035, admitted the saga took a serious toll on him and those around him.<\/p>\n

\"LamineNico Williams is close friends with Yamal. (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cMy year has been unusual. It was a very difficult summer, a lot of pressure on me and my family, and in the end it\u2019s not easy,\u201d the Spain international explained (h\/t SPORT<\/a>).<\/p>\n

His brother Inaki, the Athletic captain, described how the constant speculation created an unfair narrative around a decision that would have altered Nico\u2019s life entirely.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf my brother didn\u2019t decide overnight, or if he remained silent or pondered what for him was a brutal life change, it seemed like he was doing badly,\u201d Inaki said.<\/p>\n

The ugly side of the saga<\/p>\n

The Ghana international also recalled some of the more unpleasant episodes the family endured during those weeks, with tensions spilling over into their personal lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst moment was when they vandalised the mural. Especially when my brother returned from vacation with his girlfriend and we found the car window smashed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Adding to the chaos was the flood of contradictory information emerging on a daily basis. \u201cA sporting director would say one thing, a Twitter outlet would say another,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The turning point, according to Inaki, arrived out of the blue while he was on holiday, when Nico phoned to deliver the news that would shape the summer.<\/p>\n

\"NicoNico is no longer an option for Barcelona. (Photo by Aitor Alcalde\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe called me on a video call. We were in Ibiza. He said, \u2018Inaki, I\u2019ve decided I\u2019m staying.\u2019 I said, \u2018Are you kidding me?\u2019 I told my wife, \u2018This kid has grown up, my brother\u2019s not a kid anymore,’\u201d Inaki revealed.<\/p>\n

No regrets from Nico<\/p>\n

A year on, and with Barcelona having gone on to win La Liga without him, Nico insists he has absolutely no doubts about the path he chose.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made the right decision. I prefer to be at this club than to win five Champions Leagues or two La Liga titles. And I\u2019ve proven it,\u201d the winger stated.<\/p>\n

Nico is currently focused on the World Cup, where he has not shied away from heaping praise on close friend Lamine Yamal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nico will be an option on the bench for Spain as they take on Argentina in the FIFA World Cup 2026 final this weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It has been a year since Barcelona attempted to sign Nico Williams from Athletic Club, only to fail…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1004,92,222,223,11382,5417],"class_list":["post-56006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-athletic-club","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-inaki-williams","tag-nico-williams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}