{"id":154259,"date":"2025-09-23T01:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T01:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/154259\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T01:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T01:32:10","slug":"forgotten-liverpool-defender-could-make-surprise-return-vs-southampton-liverpool-fc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/154259\/","title":{"rendered":"Forgotten Liverpool defender could make surprise return vs. Southampton – Liverpool FC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liverpool\u2019s Rhys Williams<\/a> could be set for a surprise return to the Liverpool squad to face Southampton<\/a>, having trained with the first team ahead of the League Cup<\/a> tie.<\/p>\n

Williams last featured in the Reds\u2019 first team squad in May 2023, with his last appearance coming two years previous to that. <\/p>\n

Now, the 24-year-old could return to the senior team after Liverpool U21s boss Rob Page told media, including The Redmen TV<\/a>\u2018s Dan Clubbe, that five of his academy players trained with Arne Slot<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Along with Williams, Jayden Danns<\/a>, Tommy Pilling, Kieran Morrison and Kaide Gordon<\/a> also made the step up to first team training. <\/p>\n

\"BURTON,<\/p>\n

Asked if them missing the under-21s\u2019 match on Sunday was with Tuesday\u2019s League Cup<\/a> match in mind, Page replied: \u201cPotentially, yeah. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe first team\u2019s schedule at the minute is intense, to say the least. So they\u2019ve got off to an incredible start and we\u2019re there to support them whenever we can. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if that is with one eye on Tuesday, then so be it. You know, we\u2019ll see if there are any changes that need to be made. The manager will make that decision. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut we\u2019re there to support him and today there were a few players that needed to step up and it\u2019s great. It\u2019s great to see them, you know, over there training with the first team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rhys Williams likely to start on the bench<\/p>\n

With Slot to rotate his side heavily \u2013 he has already said<\/a> Virgil van Dijk<\/a>, Ibrahima Konate<\/a>, Ryan Gravenberch<\/a>, Dominik Szoboszlai<\/a> and Mohamed Salah<\/a> will not be involved \u2013 there will be room for youngsters in the squad.<\/p>\n

Given Van Dijk and Konate\u2019s absence, Williams will likely start on the bench, as Joe Gomez<\/a> and Giovanni Leoni<\/a> line up at centre-back for the first time this season. <\/p>\n

Liverpool also have Wataru Endo<\/a> who can deputise in defence, but he will probably play in midfield with Curtis Jones<\/a> and Trey Nyoni<\/a> or Alexis Mac Allister<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In attack, Rio Ngumoha<\/a> should start alongside two of Alexander Isak<\/a>, Federico Chiesa<\/a> and Danns. Meanwhile, at the other end of the pitch, Giorgi Mamardashvili<\/a> is set to make his debut in goal.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rhys Williams\u2019 career path<\/p>\n

\"BERGAMO,<\/p>\n

Having initially broken through during an injury crisis and heroically helped Liverpool to Champions League<\/a> qualification in 2021, playing next to Nat Phillips<\/a> in defence, Williams\u2019 career hasn\u2019t progressed as he would have hoped.<\/p>\n

Following his stint in Jurgen Klopp<\/a>\u2018s side, he signed a long-term contract, which doesn\u2019t expire until 2026, and went on loan to Swansea where he managed just seven appearances before returning for the second half of the campaign.<\/p>\n

Next came a loan to Blackpool in which he played 17 times, followed by a six-month spell at Aberdeen that failed to yield a single minute of game time for the defender.<\/p>\n

He was recalled from Aberdeen and went out to Port Vale, but that experience lasted just 16 days due to injury. <\/p>\n

Finally, he regained some consistency at Morecambe last season. Though they finished bottom of the fourth division, Williams started 37 games for the Shrimps and re-found his fitness.<\/p>\n

With just a year left on his contract, he returned to Liverpool this summer and has since captained the youth team in a 2-0 EFL Trophy defeat to Burton. <\/p>\n

While his return to first team involvement won\u2019t herald a new beginning at the club for Williams, it is nice to see him get some recognition after a difficult few years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool\u2019s Rhys Williams could be set for a surprise return to the Liverpool squad to face Southampton, having…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,70678,70679,565,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-154259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-liverpool-vs-southampton","10":"tag-rhys-williams","11":"tag-southampton","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}