Rhys Williams has been thrust into the limelight this season for Liverpool.
Just under two months after he made his senior debut for his boyhood club in a 7-2 thumping of Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup, Williams could well become one of the first names on Jurgen Klopp's teamsheet.
Williams has already featured in the Champions League this season with injuries to Virgil van Dijk and Fabinho handing the 19-year-old a chance to impress.
Joe Gomez's injury on international duty could well give Williams further opportunities in the first-team, with Klopp now down to the bare bones in defence.
While he is yet to make his Premier League debut for the Reds, Williams has featured five times this season - twice in the Carabao Cup and three times in the Champions League.
Even Klopp admits it must seem a world away from when Williams was playing on loan at National League North side Kidderminster Harriers last season.
Yet the Reds boss says the message to the likes of Williams and young teammate Curtis Jones is to keep doing what they are doing in order to gain first-team chances.
“I asked Curtis and Rhys before the game against Atalanta whether when they were younger and played together, if they’d ever dreamt of situations like that,” Klopp previously revealed to Liverpoolfc.com.
“Rhys said, ‘I didn’t… because Curtis was always so much better, so I don’t think we had the same dreams.’ Curtis said immediately, ‘But you are a centre-half and I couldn’t play centre-half.’ I said, ‘Yes, that’s true, you couldn’t play centre-half!’
“This night was even better than their dreams, so that was really nice. Now, let’s carry on with that.”
Klopp appears to have faith in Williams, having praised the influence of elite development coach Vitor Matos in the defender's development.
Speaking about a previous shortage of defenders, Klopp said: “In that moment, Vitor came, ‘Yes, Rhys Williams. A big talent, he looks really promising and we should take him for training’ – and from the first moment he impressed.
“Before that, I hadn’t heard much about Rhys, to be honest, and so that’s what I call a big impact because it has helped us massively. He is a good kid on top of that, a proper Scouser.”
