Spain and Athletic Bilbao star Nico Williams revealed that several Barcelona players tried to persuade him to leave his current team and join them at Camp Nou during the summer transfer window.
Williams, who impressed at Euro 2024, was highly sought after by Barca but ultimately chose to stay with Athletic for at least one more season.
Speaking on La Revuelta TV show, Williams described the situation as challenging.
He said: “It was difficult.
“The ‘bastards’ of [Barca] Lamine [Yamal] and [Alejandro] Balde and others didn’t help. They would say to me, ‘brother come now, come now.'”
He added that his Spain teammates who play for Barcelona would text him “all the time.”
Nico Williams on the #FCBarcelona move:
“On top of it all, the b******* Lamine and Balde didn’t make it easy. Buah! ‘Brother, come now, come now, come now,’ at all hours, every day, I said ‘I’ll decide’. I spoke about it with the family, that’s it.”pic.twitter.com/7WwZLZVWwW
— Football España (@footballespana_) November 7, 2024
Despite the club signing another Spanish international, Dani Olmo, Williams continues to receive mixed messages from Barcelona fans on social media.
“It’s difficult to evade yourself from that,” he admitted.
“I still get messages despite not being linked. It’s a bit of everything. Many people say ‘go to Barça,’ and others say ‘we don’t need you anymore.'”
Barcelona have enjoyed a successful start to the season under new manager Hansi Flick, who took over from Xavi Hernandez at the end of the last campaign.
Flick has implemented a unique disciplinary approach, contrasting with Xavi’s fine system.
Midfielder Pedri added: “Xavi, for example, would fine you €5000 if you arrived late one day and if you arrived late the next day, it would be double.
“Flick has taken away the fines. Now if you arrive late, you don’t play. For me, it is much worse not to play.”
