Athletic Bilbao head coach Ernesto Valverde has spoken about Ghana forward Inaki Williams’ importance to the club.

He made this known in a post-game interview after Williams provided two assists in Bilbao’s 4-2 win over Levante in the Spanish La Liga.

Bilbao take on Real Sociedad in the Spanish Cup semifinals on Wednesday, February 11 and Valverde believes having Black Stars player Inaki Williams perform well helps the club a lot.

“We hope the goal (he scored) the other day, today’s performance, will encourage him.”

Ernesto Valverde, head coach of Athletic Club. (Photo by Ion Alcoba/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)

“It’s the drive, it’s the heart that Inaki has that’s what has always driven us because…he’s always a player who persists a lot and that makes us produce a lot” Valverde said of Inaki Williams.

L-R) Inaki Williams of Athletic Club Bilbao, Udo Raghouber of UD Levante during the LaLiga EA Sports match between Athletic de Bilbao v Levante (Photo by Cesar Ortiz/Soccrates/Getty Images)

Williams missed two months of action including Ghana’s qualification games to the 2026 FIFA World Cup to an abductor injury earlier this season.