What has happened to Inaki Williams?

Published on: 09 February 2017

Goals are gold in football and Athletic Club are badly in need of them this season.

They need a partner for Aritz Aduriz to step up to the plate, with the veteran out in front atop the club's scoring charts.

The Spain international has seven goals in LaLiga so far this season, with the closest to him being midfielder Raul Garcia on five.

Which begs the question of where is Inaki Williams? The Under-21 international has suffered serious woe this season in front of goal, contributing just two goals.

The youngster could and should have netted on both his side's visits to the Camp Nou and the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu this season but has panicked in the big moments.

During his run with the club's youth sides, he netted a phenomenal 30 goals in 31 games to earn his call-up to the biggest stage.

Last season, he held his own with a respectable return of eight goals, although seven of those did come in the first half of the campaign, in 2015.

Since then, his goal record has tailed off considerably, adding just one more in what was left of the campaign and netting only two this season.

In total, his 2016 tally read as five goals in 29 games, with Athletic relying ever more heavily on an improving Aduriz for goals.

The veteran began with 16 goals in 2013/14, 18 the following season and then 20 after that, taking much of the pressure off the likes of Williams.

Born to a Ghanaian father and a Liberian mother in Basque, Spain, Williams is eligible to represent any of the three countries at senior level. He has already represented Spain at under-21 level.

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