Centre-half Rhys Williams has been at Liverpool since the U-10s. He signed his first professional contract in February 2019 and gained valuable experience on loan at non-league Kidderminster Harriers in 2019/20. Their manager, Russell Penn, told the Liverpool Echo that 90% of those loan deals don't work when an Under-23 player comes into a non-league set-up but Williams was a different story. "He came in, looking the part, and you're thinking oh my God, he's Virgil van Dijk in disguise!" the 34-year-old Penn told the Echo after it was apparent that Williams was getting his big break at Liverpool in the Carabao Cup. "He's baby-faced, talks like a baby and everything, but I tell you what. He dived straight into it, rented a house with four other lads and was a really big part of the club straight away. He played every game. He struggled the first month and made three mistakes that cost us three goals but he held his hands up for all of them and I think that was the making of him. I think he thought f****ng hell, this ain't no mugs game. This is where football really is life and death and mortgages paid for, do you know what I mean? From there he just got better and better," Penn concluded.

 

 

After his stay at the Harriers, Rhys Williams has clearly made a sufficient impression on Liverpool's coaching staff to be making his debut for Liverpool's first team in the Carabao Cup third round match at Lincoln. He then seized an opportunity in the Champions League, coming on for the injured Fabinho against Midtjylland at Anfield on 28th October. He then started the following week alongside Joe Gomez against Atalanta in Bergamo.

 

With Liverpool's regular defenders spending lengthy spells on the sidelines throughout the 2020/21 season Williams had plenty of opportunities, making nine Premier League appearances. However he was back down the pecking order at the start of the following season and a season long loan deal was agreed with Swansea City in the Championship. However after he featured only five times in the league before Christmas, Williams was recalled by Liverpool in January 2022 due to lack of game time. He was a regular with the Under 23's for the rest of the season, scoring twice in ten Premier League 2 appearances but only making the bench twice for the first team. With game time looking extremely limited for 2022/23 a loan deal was agreed with Championship side Blackpool.