نيكو ويليامز

Written by David Álvarez, Juan I. Irigoyen, Ladislao Moñino, Jon Rivas, Rafael Pineda and Juan L. Cudeiro for El País:

The youngest member of the Williams family is one of the jewels of Spanish football. Despite his young age he is an established and essential member of the Athletic side, and many clubs around Europe have taken note of his qualities. When Athletic won the Copa del Rey this season Nico Williams was widely considered the man of the match, and he has formed a genuinely exciting forward line with his brother Inaki, nine years his senior.

Their mother, Maria, was pregnant with Inaki when she and their father Felix set off from Ghana and walked barefoot across the Sahara in search of a better life in Spain. Inaki has chosen to represent Ghana and says he will approach the Euros “with some popcorn, and enjoy”. For all the fraternal love – “I am very proud to see how he has grown, how he is becoming a man and how he triumphs,” Inaki said – they also fight sometimes, such as in this season’s game against Alaves, to the evident delight of their teammates. “We’ve been like this our whole lives. If I don’t have these kinds of arguments with my brother, who am I going to have them with?” Inaki said. “Even though we’d won it got a bit out of hand. Our mother told us off.”