[article]Standing at 6"3 and a commanding presence at the back, comparisons had already been made to Virgil van Dijk but Liverpool wanted to work on his slim build in the rough-and-ready environment of non-league football.
Yet when he arrived at Kidderminster, current manager Russell Penn - who was assistant to John Pemberton at the time - told the ECHO he was skeptical.
"Listen, I've got nothing against Under-23 football but it's a different sport at our level," he said. "90 per cent of these loans never work."
But Williams was different.
By the time the National League season was cut-short due to the coronavirus, he had broken his nose, went to hospital with concussion and received an automatic three-match ban for a straight red card.
The plan to toughen him up worked perfectly.
Yet all of this happened in the back-drop of Pemberton resigning and his replacement, Jimmy Shan, lasting only 68 days. Penn was tasked with picking up the pieces and admitted Williams bounced back from a difficult start and off-field uncertainty in impressive style.
"He came in, looking the part, and you're thinking oh my God, he's Virgil van Dijk in disguise!" the 34-year-old former Cheltenham Town midfielder laughed.
"He's baby-faced, talks like a baby and everything, but I tell you what. He dived straight into it, rented a house with four other lads and was a really big part of the club straight away.
"He played every game. He struggled the first month and made three mistakes that cost us three goals but he held his hands up for all of them and I think that was the making of him.
"I think he thought f****ng hell, this ain't no mugs game. This is where football really is life and death and mortgages paid for, do you know what I mean? From there he just got better and better."
Penn formed positive relationships with watching England scouts who would ultimately select Williams for their U-19 Marbella International Cup squad in October despite the fact he was turning out five steps below the Premier League.
Liverpool also travelled the considerable distance to watch Williams on a handful of occasions while keeping open a constant line of dialogue with Kidderminster.
A strength and conditioning plan was devised to mimic the weights programme on Merseyside and even though Kidderminster were 16th when the campaign ended, they had conceded only four more goals than Kings Lynn Town in second.
Williams was a key factor behind the statistic.
"He just got better and better and better," Penn said.
"He's had his nose broken away at Darlington and had to go to hospital. He's had concussion, he got sent off and got an automatic three-game ban so he's really learned a lot in his first 12 months of professional football.
"Listen, you can get your a**e slapped at this level by players who don't care where you've come from because it's all about what they're taking home.
"If you're not putting a shift in it doesn't matter where you're from, you'll get told. I think Rhys learned that very, very quick, hence why he was so respected here.
"Don't get me wrong, his quality was second-to-none, so we don't even have to talk about that. That's why he's at Liverpool. I just hope he's learned the dirty side of things that you need at all levels of the game.
"He's learned the game a little bit more playing against 30, 33-year-olds who are there just to beat you up basically and take the weight off someone else's shoulders and he's dealt with that.
"You're going away to Spennymoor Town on a Tuesday night and there's 500 fans booing you. It's things like that that make you grow up a little bit quicker."
Kidderminster sent recordings of all of their matches to Liverpool as bi-weekly meetings discussed Williams' progress and Penn reckons the Premier League leaders were under 'no illusion' about his development.
Sources close to the player have refused to rule out a return to Aggborough next season and pointed out the 'fantastic' contribution made by Harriers during the spell.
But the plan was always to toughen Williams up. Liverpool could well look to a higher level next term after checking that box emphatically.
Not that Penn would turn down the chance to work with the defender again.
"If we can get Rhys Williams back I'll drive up there myself and get him!" he said.
"We're realistic in what Liverpool want to do. It's how they see his development progressing. Their development might be another year at Kidderminster.
"It's irrelevant about a higher level of football. It's about how many games he can play. I've always said you have to play football to learn football.
"He could go to the Conference, possibly League One, and be a squad player and not play 40 games. He played 42 games for us this year and he would not have got that anywhere else.
"It hasn't taken him out of the England reckoning which is a big plus as well. Why not? I see it as if he comes to us and plays another 42 games he's played nearly 100 games before he's 19."[/article]
