Nico Williams reveals the two Barcelona players who tried to convince him to join the Catalan club | OneFootball

In the last summer transfer window, the left wing was one of the positions that FC Barcelona tried the hardest to reinforce. The Athletic Club winger Nico Williams was their priority target for this position, but the Catalans were unable to reach an agreement with him as he ultimately decided to stay at his current club for another season.

Owing to his links with Barcelona, he remained in the media spotlight for most of the last summer. But while these links have died down for now, the memory of the Blaugranes’ pursuit of the player still remains alive.

This was clear from a recent interview in which Nico Williams appeared. As Mundo Deportivo has reported, the Spaniard made his appearance in a Spanish TV program with his brother, Inaki Williams, and talked about this operation in some detail.

The winger shared that he has had to face some difficult times because of this association with the Catalan club:

“You try to escape it a bit, but you always get some criticism here and there. Especially on Twitter, which is where people go hardest. I have suffered, to be honest, I won’t lie to you. Even now that I’m no longer involved, I still get messages saying they don’t need me anymore. They would say all kinds of things, from both sides.”

Nico also revealed how two Barcelona players in particular tried to persuade him to join them at the Blaugrana club: “On top of that, the guys like Lamine, Balde, and all those guys weren’t helping. They kept telling me, ‘Come over already, bro, come over.'”

His links with Barcelona have already generated some controversy with Raphinha, but Nico made it clear that he does not have anything in particular against the Brazilian:

“I understand Raphinha, but in the end, he’s there, he’s doing things well, and I don’t hold any grudge against him or Barça. The intensity of everything has already died down.”

There have already been some reports claiming that the Blaugranes will once again try to pursue the Spanish forward next year, as he has promised only one more year of his stay to the Athletic Club fans.

But with the way Raphinha is performing, there is not really a need for him in Flick’s team, and it remains to be seen whether Barcelona will make a move for him.