The withdrawal of Aduriz It places him as the great benchmark for the Athletic front. Iñaki Williams (Bilbao, 15-6-1994) admits having matured on and off the field a few days after turning 26. Today, last Sunday without football since the deadly irruption of coronavirus, the rojiblanco striker talks with MD on different issues that go beyond the game box itself.
Would you like to receive the ‘One Man Club’ one day for your career in Athletic?
I have a contract for it. Hopefully I can finish this contract here and if I can continue more, the better. I love Athletic, I am where I want to be, I am very happy here. When I renewed it was to finish it and, hopefully, be able to hang my boots here.
Sorry for the insistence. Does what he said about the “contract piece” still weigh on you?
I am aware of what I have been achieving and I know that it is not easy. I have earned everything I have, nobody has given me anything. When things are not going well, perhaps those words can be attributed to my performance; But I am a person who tries to demonstrate every day on the pitch that I am hungry, that I continue to want to improve and score many more goals. Surely with my dedication and my effort, people remember me because I try to eat the field every time I go out.
Hopefully I can finish this contract here and if I can continue more, better
He recently commented that it was time for his brother Nico (next season he will play for Bilbao Athletic) to sign a serious contract with Athletic, which until now had not been earned. Why now and not before?
My brother Nico, it is true, has incredible conditions. In the family we have been given different and we thought it convenient not to contract Nico because we did not have the financial need. Athletic has always wanted to make him a contract, but we always told him no, to trust us because we did not want Nico to leave.
Were they so sure?
My brother's dream and mine go hand in hand: we want to play together in the first team and be a deadly couple. We have not wanted to contract him until now because my brother is different from me and his mind was going away. It is very difficult to control all that for such a young boy. Now that he is a little more mature; You can already tell him things, talk to him, trust him and the truth that he is a man. He has earned a good contract and if we decide to sign, it is because he deserved it. We are getting closer to being able to play together.
We have not wanted to contract him until now because my brother is different from me and his head was still going
When you speak in the first personal plural, who do you mean?
I speak for myself, my family, Nico, my agent Felix (Tainta) … We are all one and we try to make decisions between all. Nico has thanked us for this last decision. It was time, he had earned it. Now is the time to demonstrate. You have to keep meeting deadlines in this new contract, enjoy yourself in the field and try to be better every day.
He said long ago that his mother does not allow him to put anything on his head, that when he stops having his feet on the ground, he gives him ‘a host’ to lower him to the ground again. When did you get the last slap?
The truth is that it hasn't been shaking me for a long time. I become a man and I continue to make decisions with my head. In the end I no longer need my mother's capons. Yes it is true that even so; She continues to control my money movements, everything I spend, she tells me not here … Everything that I am going to do is important, let's say, I go through a consultation and if she says no, well, I don't.
And when you go, for example, to the Broncano program and drop what you drop; Do you get angry?
He does scold me, but as he knows it is a humor show and it is not out of place to make those jokes, not so much. She didn't like it when I said it, but in the end they are mothers and we know how important they are.
I become a man and I continue to make decisions with my head. In the end I no longer need my mother's capons.
His family, by the way, could be seen in El Sadar in the stands with all the Athletic fans despite the prevailing cold and rain …
It was funny because in the end they were there with all my friends. My mother told me ‘I want to go there to cheer because I like when Athletic people sing and cheer,’ and although they don't know the songs very well, they get into them and start jumping and singing. Playing there is special for me because since I was little I have been to El Sadar and I have always dreamed of being able to play with Athletic and that all my footballer friends in Pamplona see me there, where I grew up.
Well, he scored a goal for Osasuna!
And there I went, to the corner, they were at the top. It was very exciting. I have been lucky that both times I have played in El Sadar I have been able to score and the truth is that I am very happy. Before the calendar comes out I am eager to know when we have to play in Pamplona. I like to play and win there because El Sadar is a very cool course, although I always wish Osasuna the best.
Let's go back to Bilbao. How do you now remember those not-so-distant days of home confinement due to the coronavirus?
If I tell you the truth; I leaned out the window and couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe we were in the situation we were in. It was totally surreal to go out on the terrace and see the empty streets of Bilbao. Unusual what we have had to live.
I leaned out the window and couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe we were in the situation we were in.
Do you get anything positive out of this whole quarantine?
That some of us have been lucky to be with our families, our loved ones. Being able to spend so much time together, being able to do normal day-to-day things that we didn't used to do. We are lucky to be alive and to continue counting days because in the end we suffer, but everything comes out. We all have to get out of this reinforced and be a little better people.
We have to give the applause (to the toilets) at 8, 9, 10 … They deserve infinite applause
Did you go out to clap on the balcony?
We always used to go out to the windows to applaud because in the end those who have risked their neck for us are the nurses, all the medical bodies that have given everything for us without asking in return for anything else that we stay in our homes. We have to applaud them at 8, 9, 10 … They deserve endless applause.