Nico Williams is coming to Barcelona this weekend but not to join the club. Instead, the 22-year-old will be hoping to help Athletic Bilbao get a win over Hansi Flick’s team in their second game of the La Liga campaign.
Throughout this summer, Barcelona have tried to sign the 22-year-old Basque winger but have been unable to do so. The player looks set to stay in Ernesto Valverde’s team this season, even taking the #10 jersey.
Amid all the transfer madness transpiring at the club, it’s time to shift focus to La Liga and hope to continue the winning note. Barcelona got the better of Valencia at the Mestalla and now welcome Bilbao to the Montjuic.
As per SPORT, Barcelona have a plan to stop Nico Williams in his tracks on the night and that involves Jules Kounde. Hansi Flick could take a page out of Didier Deschamps’ playbook and deploy the Frenchman in a perfect role to stop the 22-year-old.
Nico will be hoping to start on the night for Bilbao and should he line up on the left wing, he would come face-to-face with Kounde. Interestingly, the Frenchman was a vocal advocate for the 22-year-old to join Barcelona this summer underlining his admiration for the player.
Despite being a center-back by choice, Kounde finds himself playing on the right for both club and country. Not so long ago, when France took on Spain in the Euros semifinals, the Frenchman neutralized Nico in what was his least influential game at the tournament.
The Spanish winger only completed one out of his crosses and won just two out of nine duels on a night that was completely dominated by Lamine Yamal. Kounde will now get the opportunity to defend against Nico again on Saturday.
The 22-year-old comes to Barcelona with a different reputation surrounding him following the Euros. However, Kounde is an excellent one-on-one defender. He dealt with Vinicius Jr. quite competently in the Clasico last season and would be confident to do the same against Nico.
The last thing Barcelona fans will want is for Nico to come to the Montjuic and put in a man-of-the-match performance. It’ll feel like a dagger into their relatively fresh wounds and let’s hope it does not come to that.
