"I've never felt pain like that before." Those were Nico Williams' words to his brother Iñaki after limping off against Valencia on Sunday — and they say everything about the gravity of this moment.
An MRI confirmed a moderate hamstring injury in his left leg, arriving at the worst possible time: one month out from the World Cup, on the same day the RFEF submitted its provisional 55-man list to FIFA. Williams is on that list. Whether he makes the final 26 by the June 2 deadline is now a genuine question.
A season that never got going
This isn't a one-off injury. Williams has been battling persistent pubic discomfort all season, working with external specialists and managing himself through repeated fitness scares. He's played just four complete matches all campaign and missed 17 in total — 10 in La Liga, five in the Champions League, one in the Copa del Rey, plus the Spanish Super Cup.
Sunday's injury was visible in real time. At the half-hour mark, mid-attack down the left, he sat down on the pitch. You could read it on his lips: "It can't be." He came off at half-time with ice strapped to his thigh. The diagnosis arrived hours later.
He'll miss Athletic's final two league games and faces a minimum one-to-two week recovery window. That's tight but not impossible. The problem is that "minimum" is doing a lot of work in that sentence — hamstring injuries at this level rarely follow the optimistic timeline.
Spain's squad depth is being stress-tested
Luis de la Fuente is already monitoring the fitness of Lamine Yamal, Rodri, Mikel Merino, and Víctor Muñoz. Now Williams — the man who was named MVP of the Euro 2024 final — is in the same conversation. Spain's attacking options on paper are deep, but their actual availability is becoming a genuine concern for anyone pricing up their chances in North America.
Iñaki Williams put it plainly: "He was walking quite badly." That's not the description of a player who'll be fully fit in a fortnight.
