When Inaki Williams spoke about his reasons for deciding to play for Spain over Ghana, he was candid, blunt, and honest. The Athletic Bilbao forward minced no words in laying bare the various issues that underpin one’s decision to commit to a country over the other.
He said “I admire and love Ghana, the culture, food, tradition. My parents are from Accra and I really enjoy going. But I wasn’t born or raised there, my culture’s here, and there are players for whom it would mean more. I don’t think it would be right to take the place of someone who really deserves to go and who feels Ghana 100%.”
For a Ghanaian, hearing someone speak so of the national team must have been brutal, unpleasant, and condescending but Inaki was not wrong. In fact, he was 100% spot on with his decision and the reasons that backed same.
Playing for a country is not just a football decision. It is a decision that has physiological, emotional, and sociological foundations and one ought to give serious consideration to these factors before settling on one of them.
For someone who has spent literally his entire life in Spain, specifically the Basque region where the spirit of nationalism is ingrained in citizens right from childhood, Inaki was right to rule out playing for Ghana.
It is a near-impossible decision and you will be asking too much of the person so Inaki Williams was not wrong when he explicitly rejected Ghana and backed it with reasons that give a foray into the minds of players of multiple nationalities when it comes to such decisions.
When Inaki made those comments to the Guardian’s Sid Lowe, the general feeling was that it was going to mark the sad end of the Inaki Williams-Black Stars connection but barely a year after those comments, we are here again and Inaki Williams and Black Stars are a topic once more.
This time, Inaki Williams, the footballer who has not missed a single game for Athletic Bilbao since April 2016, has confirmed his nationality switch, joining Ghana from Spain on a ‘free transfer’ after making just one appearance for his first love, La Roja.
In an Avengers-themed video posted on his social media channels which has so far amassed over 3 million views, Inaki Williams stated albeit implicitly that he made the switch after a ‘soul-finding’ trip to Ghana in June with his younger brother and Ghana target Nico Williams.
In a separate interview with TV3, the man who barely 8 months ago felt more Spanish than Ghanaian all of a sudden, feels more Ghanaian than Spanish.
“I am a Ghanaian but my Ghanaian is in my heart. I have enjoyed this country, when I see my people, I see my parents as Ghanaians. I am a Ghanaian because my parents are Ghanaians. I think you don’t forget it when your father leaves this country to travel to Spain. I won’t forget it, never,” he added.
Quite interesting, isn’t it?
The ‘soul finding’ theory could pass for a spectacular PR move by Inaki and his camp but dead that narrative. The actual truth is that Inaki, like Mohammed Salisu and the others who previously ran away from Ghana but now find us attractive, are doing so only because of the World Cup.
It has cooked so Inaki and his cohorts of post-World Cup qualifiers Ghanaians are coming to feast on the toil of players who toured the trenches to secure qualification for Ghana.
There is no doubt about his talent and it needs no say that across the front three, he will start in any position but a ‘dangerous man is one without principles’ and Inaki is a man without principles, at least when it comes to sticking to his words.
Inaki Williams has opted to play for Ghana