Nottingham Forest are closing in on the signing of Neco Williams from Liverpool and the Wales international will arrive with experinece of working under one of the best managers in the Premier League era.
Williams made his Premier League debut in a 4-0 win over Crystal Palace in 2020, a few months before Jurgen Klopp's Reds lifted the league title. And the German has played a huge part on the 21-year-old's development at Anfield, but now his stay at the club is set to come to an end.
Forest have agreed a £16million fee plus add-ons to sign Williams from Liverpool and he will likely become the fifth addition to Steve Cooper's squad this summer, as Omar Richards also closes in on a move from Bayern Munich.
READ MORE: Man City can clear path for Nottingham Forest to complete stunning Chelsea transfer
READ MORE: Nottingham Forest rival Celtic for son of Parkhead legend as 'contact' made over transfer
Williams has made a total of 33 appearnces for Liverpool since making his first-team debut in 2019/20, but has had to compete with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez and James Milner for a starting spot. He was notably hauled off at half-time during the 1-1 draw with Brighton in 2020/21, but Williams has explained that those tough calls from Klopp have helped shape him as a player.
"He is like that for all the players, as soon as you have maybe a few bad games or a bad game he will be the first one to come up to you and go through things you need to improve on or what you can do better," Williams told Premier League Productions, per Liverpool's official website.
"He also tells you what you’re good at. That just gives you that confidence to go out and keep going on the training ground or playing out on the field.
"He has played a massive role in my career so far, as in he has helped me go through the bad times, I’ve matured in a way off him because he has taught me the more senior side of the game. He has taught me a lot since I made my debut."
Klopp has himself explained the difficulty Williams had breaking into Liverpool's starting XI, due to Alexander-Arnold and the 'incredible' performances of Milner last term, but insisted that the right-back was doing all he could to impress after a strong international break with Wales last November. "Neco is a young player and he plays for Liverpool, we are a pretty good football team," Klopp said. "It's not that easy to get into the first-team, on his natural position. I'm not sure if right-back is the natural position, but he has Trent Alexander-Arnold, and James Milner played there in an incredible way to be honest.
"I saw images of Neco's performances and he did really well, especially offensively. It's all about pushing and that's what he is doing. He is doing nothing wrong and then it's about opportunity coming up."
READ NEXT:
