Given his age, he’s done brilliantly. If it wasn’t for a bit of pace, we’d be purring over him.
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started the season as a boy, finished it as a man
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I keep hearing things like he isn’t good enough for us. True. But. He got us to Champions League. Let that sink in.
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After the Man Utd game I said he is fine for some Championship team but isn’t good enough here. Last 5-6 games I’d say loan him out and see how he goes.
He has been able to cope with pace better this last 5-6 games (much better than Phillips). I wonder with him is it positioning rather than pace he needs to work on.
Anyhow I’d be happy to retain him with a loan deal done.
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I’d hold off loaning him until Jan.
He is good enough for the LC games, and at a push could do 1-2 games in the C/L if we get the right draw. If come Jan, we are out of the LC and not had an injury crisis like this season giving him games in the P/L, then we can look to loan him out then and will give the coaches a better idea of what level of club to loan him out to.
And as and edition, worst case scenario, he is still young enough to be considered for the U/23 squad, so could be someone that can be used to mentor the rest of the kids about being ready to step up and take your chance when it arrives.
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Agree. There are still rooms to use him.
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I like his ability on the ball too. You can see how going through the ranks at this club forms the young players in a certain way of playing football. His forward passes have generally been excellent. Although he’ll never be the fastest player, this lad has potential for sure.
And yeah, if we move for a new CB this summer, as seems necessary, then a loan move at Championship level might be the best for his further development. Klopp and co. have just to make sure that he plays regularly. A key issue at his age.
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Wouldn’t surprise me if this kid bulks up significantly until the start of next season. At the moment he looks like the Crouchy under the CBs.
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I wonder if when he can grow a beard he’ll stop those awful hairstyles and join the werewolf clan on the bench?
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I hope we can find a better club for him than Kidderminster this time. His lack of pace makes it unlikely he’ll make it with us but he’s good on the ball. Didn’t mind receiving it under pressure and has a nice range of passing. Defensively it was a steep learning curve for him but he gradually improved and Palace was probably his best performance. I hope he’s getting a pay rise or a nice fat bonus. He deserves it.
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He is definitely going to do better then Kidderminster this time. 
I hope he goes to some Championship club, there he will have more/regular games. 
Could probably get a move to almost any Championship side.
I think the very top of the league are unlikely to want him but those just below could definitely use him. Anyone from Barnsley down could realistically be interested in a 20 year old centre back with good aerial and ball playing ability who has started multiple Premier League matches.
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I get what your saying, but I think he could do a job at a number of Premier League clubs as well.
My inclination would be to hold off on loaning him out until Jan. He is good enough to be used in LC games and is dependable enough to be used in some Champions League and Premier League games, then look at lower Premier League teams in Jan as an option
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Tricky for Williams now. He has tasted action and has grown a lot as a player. It’s unlikely he will be good enough to be a regular for us as we move forward, but credit to the lad for coming in while we were well short at the back, and exceeding expectations.
For the good of his career he needs to keep playing. He has tasted high level action, at the upper end of the Prem, playing for a depleted Liverpool team that was nevertheless locking down third place in the Prem.
If he plays for the reserves now it is a big step back.
So, a suitable loan move, lower Prem, or any team in the Championship, seems about right.
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Think it is very important to keep him with us for the whole pre season and then we can still loan him out.
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Couple of reasons I would want him loaned out straight away…
- Name recognition is on his side right now and could make finding a high quality loan easier
- Allows the club loaning him in to give him a full pre-season and know they will have him in their team, so they can plan for his squad role.
- He’ll be very low on the depth chart if van Dijk, Matip, Gomez, Konate and Phillips are all fit. Even the League Cup team will likely be starting with 2 of those 5.
- We have some other young CBs who could use the game time, should any happen to appear. Billy Koumetio has had a bad season but he still has a lot of ability to show. Jarell Quansah has captained the U18s this season and been a standout player regularly. I’d like for them to pickup the small amount of minutes that may be on offer in cup matches, as a brief introduction to the first team, and allow Williams to get a full season at a high level.
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Under appreciated draw back of being low in the pecking order is that you often don’t get the time in the position specific drills the team does during the week. If you’re far enough down the list to not make the second string team you’ll end up spending as much of your time having to pretend to be a CF as you get to spend practicing being a CB.
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1st point is valid. Can’t argue that.
2nd point imagine how much he would gain having a preseason traing every day with VVD, Gomez and Matip? Yes a preseason at the club he will be playing for will benefit him, but so will training with the best defender in the world every day for 6 months before going on loan?
3rd point you could be right, but on the other hand, if we draw a struggling League 1 or League 2 team, you can give the key lads a rest and Williams in known to be good enough to do the job.
4th point I don’t follow the youth teams enough to be able to comment on how well other youth prospects might do, so will accept your judgement on that
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Better for his development (although it doesn’t have to happen this summer for him to get that development) but less likely for the club he’s loaned to for them to integrate him as one of their starting CBs for their season if he misses their Preseason.
For what it’s worth I’d be keeping him as our 5th choice CB with two new guys, VvD and Gomez however I think it’s more likely he goes on loan and Phillips and/or Matip stay as 4th/5th and possibly 5th/6th choice.