NECO WANTS TO BE A-STAR

NECO WILLIAMS is already turning into a Grade A student at Nottingham Forest.

Boss Steve Cooper pounced for £17million full-back Williams from Liverpool in the summer, having earlier been linked with a permanent move for loanee Djed Spence in the right-back position.

Spence joined Tottenham from Middlesbrough instead, in a £20m switch – but Cooper has no regrets, after seeing the start Williams has made at the City Ground.

He has already been impressed with the way Williams is approaching the challenge.

Cooper (right) said: “The exciting thing about Neco is he loves the growth and the learning, and he likes to reflect on games.

“He likes the detail we go into, and we have to make sure we provide it for him. Some players draw a line under a game and move on – but Neco is a thinker, a reflecter.

“He has had a good start and done good things, and there are things he is desperate to get better at.”

Welsh international Williams has come straight into the Cooper set-up, but Spence is unlikely to feature for Spurs when the teams meet today. Cooper insists that Williams was always on his priority list in a summer recruitment drive which has now seen 17 players arrive, with more to come.

Cooper added: “It was topical with Djed, he was part of last season’s success, but it was a case of not losing out on Neco, rather than waiting for one or two others.

“What we did was look at all the options at every single position and it was important to get some early ones done. Neco was in high demand at Liverpool and we were in the mix for him.

“Once we met and both wanted to do it, it was too good an opportunity. We’ve done it with other players where we have signed them because the deals are there to be done and we couldn’t take the risk of waiting for others.

“They are different players and I don’t want to compare them as it’s not fair, and Djed is a Spurs player now. But we are happy with Neco.”

Cooper, taking new steps himself, as a Premier League manager, added: “I just want to be authentic, to be myself.

“I’ve coached for 20 years, I’ve done tens of thousands of games and sessions – a lot of it at academy level – and I’m clear about the coach and the character that I want to be.”