Rhys Williams said on May 25, 2026 that he will leave Liverpool this summer, drawing a line under more than a decade at the club where he moved from academy hopeful to senior defender. In a farewell message posted on X, Williams said he joined as a 9 year old boy and will go as a 25 year old man.
Williams said Liverpool had let him fulfill “things that dreams are made of,” adding that it had been an honour to wear the shirt, rub shoulders with legends and play for the club’s supporters. The exit marks the end of a route that began at U10 level and carried him through the academy, into a first professional contract in February 2019 and on to first-team football.
His rise was rewarded quickly in the 2018-19 season, when he was part of Liverpool’s FA Youth Cup-winning squad as the club beat Manchester City on penalties in the final. A loan move to Kidderminster Harriers followed in 2019-20, where he made 26 appearances in the National League North before returning to Merseyside.
Williams made his senior Liverpool debut in September 2020 in a Carabao Cup tie against Lincoln City, then featured in the Premier League and Champions League during the club’s injury-hit 2020-21 campaign, when Liverpool finished third. He signed a new long-term contract in 2021-22 before leaving on loan for Swansea City, where he made seven appearances in the first half of that season.
There was more movement after that. Williams spent the 2022-23 campaign at Blackpool, making 17 Championship appearances before Liverpool recalled him in January 2023. He then joined Aberdeen in June 2023, had a spell at Port Vale in 2023-24 that ended after injury in February, and later moved to Morecambe on loan in August 2024. Liverpool extended his stay there in January 2025 until the end of the season.
The departure closes a long club pathway at a moment when Liverpool are ending another season of their own. The team finished with a 1-1 draw against Brentford at Anfield, a result that secured UEFA Champions League qualification for next season. Williams now leaves as another academy graduate who lived the full arc from schoolboy signing to first-team regular around the margins, and then to an exit that feels both expected and personal.
