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Ernesto Valverde’s men could be without the Ghana international for a long time due to a knock suffered against the Pirates.

Athletic Bilbao star Inaki Williams has suffered a sprained ankle ligament, the Spanish elite division side has confirmed.

Although the duration of his injury is unknown yet, the striker is expected to undergo further evaluations in the coming days.

“Athletic Club striker Inaki Williams has sprained a ligament in his right ankle. He will undergo further evaluations and his progress will be monitored over the coming days,” a statement from the club website read.

The Ghana international was among the goal scorers as the Lions silenced Cadiz 4-0 on Monday evening inside Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla.

In the 24th minute, Williams intercepted Santiago Arzamendia’s loose back-pass to fire into an empty net after rounding goalkeeper Jeremias Ledesma.

That saw him end his joint-worst La Liga run of 14 away Spanish league top-flight games without finding the net.

He could have doubled the visitors’ advantage 11 minutes later, however, his tame penalty was saved by Ledesma after Alfonso Espino handled the ball in the penalty area.

Nevertheless, he was substituted for the Gorka Guruzeta in the 54th minute and stats proved he contributed five shots, with three of them on target while he won one aerial battle.

With this development, Ernesto Valverde will miss the services of the Black Star when his team square up against Espanyol on September 4 at San Mames.

Valverde had gushed over his team’s performance stating how important the victory was.

"This was an important moment for us," he told the media.

"It was our first game away from home and we wanted to give the type of performance we would at San Mames. I think we imposed ourselves. We were very good.

"After the first goal we calmed down and we grew with the game. It's important to be able to play well and to be able to put your stamp on the match. I'm happy because we managed to show our identity.

"We're not conceding many chances, we want to keep it that way. The best way to score goals is to create a lot of dangerous situations. We can do that because we have talented attacking players."

Bilbao are now fourth on the log with seven points from three matches played so far.