Thoughts on Neco Williams…

[MickyAdamsFamily]

Firstly, I hadn't realized that he is still only 20. He's been around for a while, playing for both 'pool and Wales. He's got 17 senior caps for Wales, including appearing in all of their games at the Euros last summer. I'll admit to not being overly impressed by him for 'pool (including when he was turned inside-out by Lookman last year), but he he's lightning quick, with pace to match Robinson, which is clearly Marco's preference.
The most intriguing aspect of the transfer is his relationship with Wilson. They must've known each other and played together on the right for the better part of a decade for club and country. Did Wilson's presence (and the fact that he's thriving) at Fulham have any influence on Williams wanting to come join us? It might make his bedding in much smoother, too, as he'll already have a familiar colleague to link up with (and overlap)...

[The Rational Fan]

I hope we have an option to keep him next season, the more of the squad we keep, the less upgrades that are required next season, and the higher quality players those upgrades will be.

[DevonFFC]

Is he just a mole.... Sent here to get in Cavs ear

[RaySmith]

Good signing I think.

[StuinSalop]

If you look at our squad now, we really do have quality in each position with quality backup.   Who would you pick right now between Nico and a fully fit Tete.  All our defence including keeper are full internationals apart from Tosin who may be the best.  Who do you pick for the midfield 2 from Seri, TC, Reed and Chalobah and how does Onomah get a game.  Maybe another left sided striker but other than that we have never been this strong in the Championship.  Decent manager to put this all together is also critical.

[bobbo]

Is he just a mole.... Sent here to get in Cavs ear

i doubt !  They are very capable of that without using a 20 year old . Seems to me they've stepped into Spurs shoes at sniffing around our premium products.

[Maidstone Lee]

I hope we have an option to keep him next season, the more of the squad we keep, the less upgrades that are required next season, and the higher quality players those upgrades will be.

I don't recall seeing an option to buy to be honest. I wonder what our relationship with Liverpool will be after the Carvalho debacle. Can't imagine they want to do much business with us moving forward.

[jayffc]

I hope we have an option to keep him next season, the more of the squad we keep, the less upgrades that are required next season, and the higher quality players those upgrades will be.

I don't recall seeing an option to buy to be honest. I wonder what our relationship with Liverpool will be after the Carvalho debacle. Can't imagine they want to do much business with us moving forward.

Then that's on them. It's a negotiation at the end of the day, we told them what we wanted, we didnt have to sell...they held out too long. After nicking Elliot off us for peanuts they can hardly hold the moral high ground here

[filham]

Is he just a mole.... Sent here to get in Cavs ear

i doubt !  They are very capable of that without using a 20 year old . Seems to me they've stepped into Spurs shoes at sniffing around our premium products.

Liverpool have slipped up, come the summer they could be facing crafty competition from Spurs and others ready to offer an attractive contract to a young talent on a low transfer fee.

[Jonny4]

On the positive side, getting Neco Williams in for Odoi seems like a wise move. Denis, though we all love him and he's done well this season, was always likely to move on next season and wasn't getting any younger. We now have Neco who is only 20 and British - hopefully we can sign permanently if he impresses.

While a sensible move on paper, every time I've seen Neco play for Liverpool I think he's been awful - terrible positioning, caught of position, bad 1-on-1 defending. Clearly he's done ok for Wales, but I'm not convinced at all by his ability. I think the fact he's at Liverpool has given him more credibility than he deserves.

Ultimately Tete is our number #1 RB. He's Prem quality, but his constant injuries are becoming a problem meaning Williams will probably get some games in the rest of the season. Hopefully Neco can prove he's a good player and work towards a permeant move to Fulham as cheap competition at RB for Tete. If he turns out to be rubbish then back off to Liverpool he goes. A solid transfer for all involved without really adding much excitement to the squad.

[HamsterWheel]

Watching the highlights vid, it almost seems speeded up, like an old Keystone Cops film.
Shows the speed of the Prem. Hopefully Neco will be running past the Championship carthorses like Shergar trotting past Red Rum.

[Oakeshott]

Hopefully our manager and team will be able to get the best from Williams through coaching. After all, he is not someone they won't have known plenty about before taking him, not least through his erstwhile club mate at Liverpool and team mate for Wales. Having speed seems very much in his favour the way the manager likes us to play.

[MaidenheadMick]

I hope we have an option to keep him next season, the more of the squad we keep, the less upgrades that are required next season, and the higher quality players those upgrades will be.

"Better part of a decade" How old do you think they are? Made their debuts for Wales at the age of eleven did they?

[MaidenheadMick]

Firstly, I hadn't realized that he is still only 20. He's been around for a while, playing for both 'pool and Wales. He's got 17 senior caps for Wales, including appearing in all of their games at the Euros last summer. I'll admit to not being overly impressed by him for 'pool (including when he was turned inside-out by Lookman last year), but he he's lightning quick, with pace to match Robinson, which is clearly Marco's preference.
The most intriguing aspect of the transfer is his relationship with Wilson. They must've known each other and played together on the right for the better part of a decade for club and country. Did Wilson's presence (and the fact that he's thriving) at Fulham have any influence on Williams wanting to come join us? It might make his bedding in much smoother, too, as he'll already have a familiar colleague to link up with (and overlap)...

Better part of a decade? How old dou you think they are? Made their debuts at eleven years old did they?

[MickyAdamsFamily]

I believe that Williams (and Wilson, too) began at the Liverpool academy when he was 9, so yes, a decade (though not for Wales until they were playing for U-16). Wilson is a couple of years older, but they would have been together at the academy beginning in 2011

[WestSussexWhite]

Williams and Wilson have played together a lot, there is no option to buy, howeevr, I don't see why we couldn't come to some sort of agreement with Liverpool about him if we go up and he does well. Especially as we seem to still be on good terms as the Fab deal will probably happen anyway

[FFC1987]

Williams and Wilson have played together a lot, there is no option to buy, howeevr, I don't see why we couldn't come to some sort of agreement with Liverpool about him if we go up and he does well. Especially as we seem to still be on good terms as the Fab deal will probably happen anyway

Isn't his contract up at end of season?

[Tabby]

Williams and Wilson have played together a lot, there is no option to buy, howeevr, I don't see why we couldn't come to some sort of agreement with Liverpool about him if we go up and he does well. Especially as we seem to still be on good terms as the Fab deal will probably happen anyway

Isn't his contract up at end of season?

He signed a 5 year contract last season.

[FFC1987]

Williams and Wilson have played together a lot, there is no option to buy, howeevr, I don't see why we couldn't come to some sort of agreement with Liverpool about him if we go up and he does well. Especially as we seem to still be on good terms as the Fab deal will probably happen anyway

Isn't his contract up at end of season?

He signed a 5 year contract last season.

Ugh, must of seen some dreadful journalism!

[MickyAdamsFamily]

I think WSW may be right about the Carvalho deal still happening. They might even have made a handshake arrangement to settle it in the summer, as they were running out of time last night. If he goes to 'pool (or any English club) we can take them to the tribunal, where we would be likely to get paid more than we got for Elliot. Carvalho has been with Fulham for much longer, and is starting and scoring goals (unlike Elliot), plus we have a document showing what Liverpool were willing to pay for him.
...We could also opt not to take them to a tribunal if an accommodation is reached between the clubs.
I have to think that's a distinct possibility here. If we'd stitched them up with our last-minute scuppering of the Carvalho deal as some sort of retribution for Elliot, and there was much bad feelings between the clubs, I can't imagine that 'pool would still have approved the Neco Williams loan. There are several ways to resolve these open accounts between Fulham & Liverpool, involving the remaining tribunal fee they will owe us for Elliot, the remaining fee we owe them for Wilson (there was a lot of deferred payments there for FFP), not to mention a possible fee we could pay for Williams to offset the possible tribunal equivalent development fee for Fabio. It's a lot of pieces on the board leaving much possibility for negotiation, right? My guess is that we're still trying to maintain reasonable relations with them in hopes of continuing business in the future, including a possible settling of accounts this coming off-season
We may never know the full story of what happened in the last day of the transfer window with the Carvalho negotiations, but I feel confident in saying that it isn't as straightforward as some imagine.