Athletic Club manager Ernesto Valverde could scarcely contain his chuckles when he was asked why Inaki Williams was missing their final game of the season against Rayo Vallecano. The Ghanaian international has been playing with a shard of glass in his foot.
Williams’ fitness record is legendary, having set the record for the number of consecutive games in a row, playing 251 times without missing a match. This season that record was broken, but for the most part, he remains an ever-present for Athletic.
Valverde explained that Williams had had an accident two years ago where a glass smashes and he stepped on it, with the glass going into his foot. He recovered from the injury, and continued to play on, but in recent months, he had been struggling with a foot problem.
https://twiter.com/emctear/status/1794073457061228700
“We did a scan after the final, and we discovered that he still had some glass in his foot. When they stitched him up the first time, they left the glass in there. In addition, it’s not a small piece, it’s about 2cm. It was next to a bone or a tendon, but we had to extract it. The truth is that myself and the doctor were laughing because we couldn’t believe it.”
Ernesto Valverde has explained that Inaki Williams has been playing with a shard of glass in his foot for the last two years. 😳pic.twitter.com/4BFJQ3aesc
— Football España (@footballespana_) May 24, 2024
Williams’ commitment to Athletic has never been questioned, and was evident again after he traveled for 16 hours overnight in order to make it back just in time for the Copa del Rey quarter-final against Barcelona in January. This is yet another example of the remarkable leader Athletic have.
