Klopp wants Williams to challenge A-A
LIVERPOOL manager Jurgen Klopp has hinted that Wales full-back Neco Williams will be used as competition for Trent Alexander-Arnold in the Reds starting line-up in the upcoming season.
The teenager was the hero in Wales’ Nations League win over Bulgaria on Sunday, netting the 94th-minute winner to take Wales to top of Group 4 of League After the opening two games.
Williams has come up through the youth system at Anfield and was promoted to first-team duties last season making six Premier League appearances.
The 19-year-old signed a new contract at Liverpool earlier this summer and is highly rated by the Reds’ boss.
“I think Neco is - how young players are - they are kind of ‘projects’. I don’t want to use that word, but with my English I don’t have a better one. There is a lot of work to do, but there is already a lot of skills and potential there and that makes it so exciting,” he told Liverpool’s official website last month.
“Neco from the first day he trained with us, he trained like a machine. Every day he became better and better and better and I thought, ‘OK, what’s that?!’
“Unfortunately then, in the moment he started playing for us, I saw it, he got a little physical knock, like it was always really intense all of the time. But then he had to play.
“The last game of the season against Newcastle is a really good example - first half, struggled slightly, [but] second half he was there.
“That’s exactly him in the moment and there is so much positivity about this kid that I am really happy we have him here. That’s very important for me because he is our boy and it is the perfect place for him in the moment because we don’t rush his career.
With the Champions League and two cup competitions as well as the Premier League to compete in this season, the number of games may mean that Williams gets more of a chance, which can only be good news for the national team.
“We want to prepare him for his career, yes, and in his position in which he will probably play, there is a really, really good player in that position,” Klopp added.
“But Trent cannot - and should not and never did - play 500 games a season, so we need to have options there. Neco is as close as possible for his age group.”
IT’S been an eventful summer for the Dragons, to say the least. They have made some significant signings, notably the recruitment of Jamie Roberts, Nick Tompkins and Jonah Holmes, which have caused a real stir within the Welsh game.
The fact they are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union has led some to question whether they receive preferential treatment from the governing body.
Rugby correspondent Simon Thomas sat down with the Gwent region’s chairman, David Buttress, to discuss this and other issues.
Q: FIRST OF ALL, WHAT’S THE LATEST ON YOUR PLANS TO TAKE THE DRAGONS BACK INTO PRIVATE OWNERSHIP?
A: We were close to agreeing heads of terms and then, of course, Covid happened. For me personally, it was just too much financial risk to take on at the time when there was nothing but uncertainty in terms of what the income streams were going to be and when supporters were going to come back in. So I just had to hit pause. The WRU were great about it. They completely understood.
So, do we still want to do it? Yes, we do 100 per cent. That’s the model we have for Welsh rugby. It’s right for the other three, as well as for the Dragons and the WRU that it goes back into private ownership. We would love to do it, but until we have certainty over Covid, it’s just too much financial risk for me to take on. So, it’s been held up.
The financial pressure Covid has created for all four regions and the WRU is unprecedented in Welsh professional rugby. We are going to have to work really hard the next year or two to recover. We shouldn’t underestimate that or flower it up. It is going to be challenging financially for all the regions.
But if we all muck in together and roll our sleeves up – both the WRU and the regions – then hopefully over the next year or two we can build our way out of it.
A: I think we are comfortable with how we do business. That is what I’d say.
I don’t think it’s right to go into all the specifics, but what I would say is we tried to do things the right way.
We definitely tried to respect the other regions and operate within the frameworks that are agreed.
But we have to continue to improve as a club. I make no apologies for that. We want to become more competitive and improve all the time as a region. I think it’s right that we do that and I think that benefits the whole of Welsh rugby.
What I will also say to you is we tried to go about things in the right way and we felt that was perhaps not being observed across the board. As a result of that, frankly, you get to a view where you think you are going to do what’s right for us to continue to improve.
We absolutely want to do things the right way, we respect all the agreements, but at the same time we haven’t always felt we’ve been extended that same courtesy. That probably drives some of our competitive fire.
Q: CAN YOU CLARIFY WHAT THE SITUATION IS WITH YOUR FUNDING FROM THE WRU/PRB?
A: We have the smallest allocation from the PRB of the four Welsh regions and we don’t receive any more than that from the WRU towards our squad.
Look, I don’t lie awake at night worrying about the conspiracy theories. I know the truth. The guys round the PRB table know the truth as well. It’s very transparent. What each region has is very clear. There’s no opaqueness around what each region gets.
The Dragons are the lowestfunded of the four. We are not going to moan or complain about that. I understand the funding model. It is what it is.
Of course, as a board, it’s on us to do everything we can to try and improve. Our strategy is pretty clear. We have brought back several players from England that we hope can be players for Wales. That makes sense for the Dragons and strengthens Welsh rugby.
You haven’t seen us take any players from other regions, although we have lost a few players to them. Our strategy is supporting Welsh rugby and helping us improve. I make no apologies for that. I think it makes tons of sense.
In terms of the WRU ownership, we have a board which is made up of two independent directors and two WRU directors. That’s true, so there’s transparency and accountability. But, at the same time, it’s the board of the Dragons and Dean Ryan that are responsible for developing the region.
Nobody in Cardiff is telling us what players to sign. I laugh when I see some of the conspiracy theories. If anyone knows Dean Ryan, I can assure them that nobody in Cardiff is telling him who he should sign for the Dragons. Anyone who thinks that, it’s laughable. Dean and I simply wouldn’t operate like that. We do what’s right for us.
Q: WHAT ABOUT THE ARGUMENT THAT, WHILE YOU HAVE THE SMALLEST ALLOCATION FROM THE PRB, YOU CAN SPEND WHAT YOU WANT ON THE BUSINESS WITHOUT FEAR BECAUSE THE WRU WILL COVER ANY LOSSES?
A: I get that because, with the other three, the risk would sit with them. I am very respectful of that and I completely accept that as a point.
That’s why I do think it’s right that the Dragons move into private ownership. If that’s the model for Welsh rugby, then it’s right that all four should be independent.
So that’s a perfectly valid observation to make.
But it’s very clear the WRU do not want losses from the Dragons and neither do the other three. What I’ve worked really hard on for the last two years is trying to get the Dragons back from where it was when I came in, which was an insolvent asset, to trading on a close to break-even model. I am pleased to say in the last financial year we are pretty close to breaking even.
From where I inherited it, which was losing more than £1m a year, we have now got it back to being virtually break-even, plus-minus tens of thousands. Off the field, that’s been our best achievement. In that time, our commercial revenues have grown from around £1m to nearly £2m now. We have nearly doubled them. That’s been a lot of hard work.
But, fundamentally, should all four entities be independent? Yes, they should, because it’s not fair in terms of any losses. But, as I say, the WRU do not want the losses and that’s the thing I have been most focused on trying to rectify.
A: That’s simply not true. If you ask anyone on PRB, we didn’t get an increased budget for Nick Tompkins or any player. Everyone in our squad, it doesn’t matter who it is, comes from our existing budget. There is nobody we have signed or re-signed because we have had additional funding. That’s just garbage.