Bolton Wanderers midfielder MJ Williams has explained how Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard helped to shape his early career.
The 25-year-old Wanderers midfielder came through the youth team ranks at Anfield where he made just one appearance, before having loan spells at Notts County and Swindon Town.
He later moved to Rochdale after a loan spell, before moving to Blackpool in the summer of 2020, before heading to the University of Bolton Stadium earlier this year and earning a promotion winners' medal.
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Williams has established himself in the holding midfield role in Ian Evatt's side and has spoken about how he learned from Kop legend Gerrard towards the end of the latter's playing career.
Having made his name in the number 10 role and in attacking midfield, Gerrard retreated further back in the engine room towards the conclusion of his playing days and sitting in front of the back four in a quarterback role, spraying passes across the pitch from deep.
It was something that Williams, a Liverpool fan, picked up on and was able to hone his skills with Gerrard personally in training and he admits he learned a lot from the legendary figure and now Rangers boss.
The holding midfield role is becoming more and more common in the game and the best teams have clear figures, such as Fabinho at Liverpool, N'Golo Kante at Chelsea and Fernandinho at Manchester City.
And it is a role that Williams himself relishes doing.
He said: “Luckily enough, when I was at Liverpool and I went into the first team for five or six months, Gerrard was playing in that position so it wasn’t a bad one for me to learn from.
“He was obviously getting a bit older and dropped into that position. He was top-class. Just learning from him every day, I used to be out after training doing passing with him.
“When you get that opportunity, you’ve got to take it. That’s what I did and I learned so much from him.
“Even when I’m watching games, I always look at people in that position. I’m a massive Liverpool fan and they’ve probably got one of the best in Fabinho, so it’s not bad watching him as well.
“There’s plenty more of them now. It used to be the box-to-box but now you obviously see a lot of the top teams with the holding midfielder.
“It’s a job that I love doing. It gives the freedom to the other lads to go and express themselves because hopefully they know I’ll be behind them, and obviously we’ve got the centre backs and our full backs do push on as well.
“It does go under the radar sometimes I’m sure, someone just going round kicking people and winning the ball back. But if that’s what I’m in there for, I love it.”
