Rhys Williams learned his trade at Kidderminster Harriers but stepped up to fill Fabinho’s boots
Rhys Williams #RhysWilliams
What a difference a week makes. In Amsterdam seven days ago, Jurgen Klopp stood with arm around Rhys Williams and smiled as he imparted some final wisdom.
Liverpool’s manager knew the size of the moment for a 19-year-old making his first steps at the highest level. Here was Williams, in one of the sport’s cathedrals, being given the responsibility to help his team protect a slender 1-0 lead through injury time.
‘I saw in his eyes he was pretty impressed by the occasion,’ Klopp reflected.
Williams had every reason to be impressed. His first action after being introduced against Ajax was to win a towering header. They think an awful lot of Williams at Liverpool and the fact Klopp was prepared to put him into a pressure situation spoke volumes.
Here, though, the body language was different. Klopp could not have envisaged having to ask Williams to get stripped and ready for action so soon into Liverpool’s second Group D fixture against Midtyjlland but circumstances left him with no option.
There was Fabinho, the man who had been ushered into central defensive duty following the catastrophic injury to Virgil van Dijk, lying with his leg out stretched. He was wincing in the way players do when they have felt something tweak, tear or pop.
The severity of his hamstring damage will be determined today (WEDS) after a scan.
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So Klopp pointed to Williams and asked him to help Liverpool through a problematic assignment in the midst of what is now a defensive crisis.
This time last year, he was on loan at Kidderminster Harriers and playing in games against Farsley Celtic and Darlington. He had been part of Liverpool’s FA Youth Cup winning team in 2019 but the club decided that his education would be best served by a spell playing man’s football.
The move was the idea of Academy Director Alex Ingelthopre and Julian Ward, Liverpool’s loan and pathways manager, after they had been approached by then Kidderminster manager John Pemberton. They wanted Williams to have a different football experience in his education.
Ward watched Williams regularly at Aggborough Stadium and he showed such an appetite to learn under Pemberton and his successor Russ Penn that the experiment was deemed a resounding success. Williams was rewarded with a new five-year deal at Anfield this summer.
Klopp gave him his first senior action in a 7-2 Carabao Cup win at Lincoln last month. He was with the Under-23s last week, when he scored a towering header in a 3-1 win over Chelsea, but this weekend he is likely to be asked to shackle West Ham’s Michail Antonio.
‘He did really well and the only problem we have now is that there are four days to the West Ham game and there will be a story every day about him,’ said Klopp. ‘He has to prove he can deal with that as well. Everything was calm around him and we try to keep it that way.’
If his moment comes to it (Klopp is unsure when Joel Matip will be fit) Williams will not be flustered. He reads the game well – one interception in the 57th minute caught the eye – and makes sensible passes and he will also benefit from having the imperious goalkeeper Alisson Becker behind him.
Fate has put Williams in this position but his talent for this unexpected opportunity should not be doubted.
‘We have three very young central defenders but they are all alternatives,’ said Klopp. ‘At this moment, it looks like we have to choose one of them. I don’t know yet but to be really clear and positive, Rhys was not in one situation that was a problem. He played a really good game.’
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