Swashbuckling Neco Williams is the biggest surprise of 2020

Liverpool youngster Neco Williams is the biggest surprise of 2020 after breaking through in the Carabao and FA Cup campaigns.

At the start of this season, barely anyone had heard of the young Welshman – but that has done a 180 and now he’s viewed by many as the next Trent Alexander-Arnold.

This piece isn’t here for that purpose though. Aside from the fact they are both attacking full-backs, Alexander-Arnold is a generational talent and heaping that much pressure on Williams isn’t fair to the lad.

This piece is here to talk about how the youngster took everyone by surprise when he made his way into the first team ahead of the likes of Ki-Jana Hoever and helped to run the show from the right-hand side.

He’s ended up being on the bench for seven Premier League games and two Club World Cup fixtures as Neco Williams’ stock has risen and risen.

Against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup we saw how good he was at attacking and it was a performance that set tongues wagging a little bit – but the 18-year-old backed it up as he was handed further opportunity against top class opposition.

He was a part of the side who beat Everton 1-0 in a remarkable game. They sent out, essentially, a full side while Jurgen Klopp sent out the kids. Curtis Jones might have hit the winning goal, but that day was built on the success of players like Williams.

Chelsea were the next set of high-level players to face down, and he did that well too. Three Premier League sides saw how good this lad might become.

And that will surely play on Klopp’s mind when it comes to planning the shape of the squad for next season.

He’s been my biggest surprise of 2019/2020, there’s no chance he’ll repeat that in 2020/2021.