Inaki Williams opens a special season with Athletic Club. The striker is reunited with Ernesto Valverde, who is the coach who gave him his debut in LaLiga Santander, in a unique campaign because the eldest of the Williams family will be playing in the World Cup with Ghana.
The Bilbao-born striker, who will line up for his parents’ country, made the decision at the start of the summer and on Friday offered his first comments on the matter.
“It’s something I’ve been thinking about for many months and I’ve had the help of my family,” Williams explained to the press.
“The president of the Ghanaian federation is the one who pushed hardest for me to be there.
“Trains only run once and I got on this one, which has more good than bad.
“The decision has been mature and consensual with my family.”
Ghana’s route to the World Cup and beyond is through the Africa Cup of Nations. Williams has no fears about travel.
“Good players travel with their national team. I am 28 years old and this opportunity was not going to be given to me anymore,” he continued.
“I’m going to enjoy the moment, enjoy my roots and give back to Ghana for the opportunity it has given me.
“We appreciated that the next African Cups were played in the summer.
“I will represent the country of my parents, where I feel very loved.
“I need to give back the joy they have for me to go to the national team.
“I’m going to enjoy it sportingly and personally. The trip I made to Ghana helped me a lot to make the decision and I won’t regret it.”
The decision was taken with Aitor Elizegi during his time as president of Athletic Club and Williams thanked the him for his support.
“He told me to go for what made me happy. When I made it public he sent me a very emotional message,” Williams detailed.
Changes for Williams
Valverde‘s return will also mean changes in the game plan for Inaki Williams, who the coach will use on several occasions on the wing, a position in which he already shone under his orders.
“I hadn’t played on the wing for a year and a half or two years, but I feel comfortable. Ernesto made me come up and put me in that position.
“I’ll try to contribute from that position by breaking away and breaking away. Hopefully I can improve my numbers from other years,” he confirmed.
“It’s something we’ve talked about internally and this time it’s been made public. We are going to try to give a blow on the table because we want to be in Europe and I think we have a very good squad,” Williams stated.