Several days ago, Nico Williams’ rejection of Barcelona was confirmed, and it still hurts in the Catalan capital. So much so that key figures such as Lamine Yamal, who seemed to be influencing his friend’s decision, has posted a story on his official Instagram account with an ambiguous message, enigmatic words that seem to be clearly directed at the Athletic Club player who has renewed his contract with the Bilbao-based club until 2035.
The bombshell of Nico Williams’ renewal with Athletic Club took everyone by surprise. Even Barcelona itself, which held an emergency meeting at its offices to discuss the issue, see what went wrong, what really happened, and not be left down and get back on its feet quickly to start looking for an alternative to the Spanish international winger. In fact, several names have already begun to emerge as candidates to arrive at Camp Nou, such as Luis Díaz and Marcus Rashford.
Once the contract extension for the younger Williams was announced, Athletic Club began a campaign to gloat over having won this battle against Barcelona. A huge number of messages on social media, posts from other players at the Basque club, and interactions between Nico himself and his brother Williams poured in on that fateful day, which will be remembered as a disastrous day for Barça’s sporting management. The Lions’ leadership did not like how Deco, Joan Laporta, and other Barça officials had acted, and they wanted revenge by overwhelming them with a large number of posts that made it clear who had emerged victorious from this war.
Lamine’s support…
Everyone knows about the great friendship between, or rather, that used to exist between, Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams. The two are inseparable when they are together on the Spanish national team, where they formed a lethal partnership on the wings to win the European Championship last summer. Both players impressed, and that’s when the rumors began linking the Athletic player to Barcelona, but in the end, he didn’t make it to Camp Nou that summer. Now, in this transfer window, when he was closest to making the move, he opted to extend his contract with the club of his life.
It was this summer when Lamine Yamal was most active in making public gestures to discuss his transfer. Barcelona did not consider Nico Williams until Félix Tainta, the player’s agent, scheduled a meeting with Deco to express his interest. That same day, the young Barça gem shared a post with his friend, sparking rumors about how fruitful the meeting had been. A few days later, when it seemed that the signing was done, he took to social media again to show his joy at what was about to happen: he would be sharing a locker room at Barça with Nico.
…Yamal’s possible jab
Lamine has shared a rather enigmatic message, which is part of a song by Morad, which many have identified as a clear jab at Nico Williams. “And I’ve achieved what I wanted and I haven’t asked anyone for anything, and I haven’t even had to humiliate myself. I’ve helped my people, I’m still on the street, tell me who the fuck is going to take me away,” read the story he posted on his Instagram account.
🔴 La story énigmatique de Lamine Yamal sur Instagram 🤔👀
« 𝗝’𝗮𝗶 𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗻𝗲́ 𝗰𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗶 𝗺’𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗷𝗲 𝗻’𝗮𝗶 𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲́ 𝗮̀ 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝘁 𝗷𝗲 𝗻’𝗮𝗶 𝗺𝗲̂𝗺𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝘂 𝗮̀ 𝗺’𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿.
𝗝’𝗮𝗶 𝗮𝗶𝗱𝗲́ 𝗹𝗲𝘀… pic.twitter.com/4zPiFT4wvR
— Vibes Foot (@VibesFoot) July 6, 2025
Analyzing these words, it can be interpreted that in the first sentence, Lamine Yamal emphasizes that he earned his position at Barcelona without outside help, that Nico Williams did ask him for help to join Barça, but that he ultimately took a step back to stay at Athletic when he was receiving a barrage of insults for wanting to leave. In the second part of the Spanish international’s message, we can see how he boasts about having helped his people, although in the end it seems that he has been ‘betrayed’.