Exclusive: Rhys Williams opens up on Premier League heartbreak, how Celtic tried to sign him and being made Middlesbrough captain

As a 16-year-old prospect who had travelled from Australia with ambitions of playing in the Premier League, Rhys Williams had a decision to make.

After growing up in Perth and impressing for local side ECU Joondalup, the young defender had trials at five clubs in England, three of which wanted to offer him a contract.

"I was at West Brom, Portsmouth, Leicester, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough,” Williams tells the Mail during an in-depth chat about his time at Boro.

“The biggest choice was between Villa and Middlesbrough, at the time Middlesbrough’s youth team was unmatched so it was a no-brainer for me.”

It’s a move which would have a big bearing on Williams’ career, with the Aussie spending the next 11 and a half years on Teesside before leaving in 2016.

Unfortunately for the 32-year-old, Boro fans will probably remember the injuries Williams suffered which denied him the chance to fulfil his potential.

"It was nice to be that player who stuck around for so long but it never quite happened for me at Middlesbrough,” admits Williams, who now plays for Al Qadisiyah FC in Saudi Arabia’s first division. “I’d love to do it all again.”

Despite missing a total of over four years through injuries, the player doesn’t seem to have many regrets when reflecting on his time in the North East.

Yet the disappointment of missing out on that Premier League dream is something which still stings.

Williams broke into Boro’s first team at the start of the 2008/09 season, the year Boro were relegated from the top flight under Garreth Southgate.

"I had an unbelievable pre-season, scored a few goals,” Williams explains. “We beat Sparta Rotterdam before the start of pre-season and I played in that game and played well.

“Garreth Southgate then pulled me in and said we are going to go with David Wheater at right-back for experience.

"My mum was on a flight over the day before the first game of the season against Tottenham at home, that was a bit heartbreaking not to be involved then.

"It’s something I will always look back on and think I was so close to starting that season and who knows what could have been after that.”

A cruciate ligament injury then halted Williams’ progress, before he was loaned out to Burnley in the second half of the campaign.

When he returned to Boro in the summer of 2009, the Teessiders were preparing for a season in the Championship, and Williams, who was capable of playing in defence or midfield, established himself as a first-team regular.

“It’s strange because I don’t think I was going to be a key player,” Williams recalls.

“We started the season and Matthew Bates (who was playing as a defensive midfielder) got injured so Southgate stuck me in central midfield.

“I did well and managed to make that spot my own, so I’d gone from right-back at Burnley to central midfield at Middlesbrough.

“I didn’t really expect to play that season, thought I would go on loan, but I got my chance.”

Despite a 5-0 defeat by West Brom, Boro were competing for an automatic promotion place under Southgate but slumped into mid-table following a managerial change and Gordon Strachan’s appointment.

The Scot’s tenure at Boro was a disaster as the club significantly underperformed, yet Williams doesn’t believe the manager was completely to blame.

“I can’t really complain about any manager because every manager in the Championship I played for,” says Williams.

“I don’t think he lost the dressing room but when everyone is going through a tough time I think you do see cracks.

“Everyone respected him a hell of a lot, he brought in a lot of players from Celtic as well, it was just a difficult time for the club in general.”

Williams’ best spell in a Boro shirt came after Tony Mowbray arrived at the end of 2010, after the Aussie had missed that year’s World Cup with a persistent pelvic issue.

In Mowbray’s first full season, it seemed like Williams had put his injury setbacks behind him, making 35 Championship appearances at centre-back or in central midfield.

The Australian’s performances led to interest from Premier League clubs, yet Williams wanted to stay at Boro and was made club captain by Mowbray before the 2012/13 season.

When asked how he felt at that moment, Williams replies: “Unbelievably proud. I remember when he came in and he said he tried to sign me at Celtic and I was a big part of his plans.

“That was around the time a few offers came in for me from the Premier League and they got turned down, so I said I want to spend the foreseeable future here, I want a new contract.

“The icing on the cake was him making me captain, a really proud moment for me, even to this day people say you were a captain of such a big club at such a young age.

“It was so nice for a manager like Tony Mowbray to put that much trust in me.”

At 24, Williams looked like a player Boro could build a team around, yet the Aussie would make just 46 league appearances during his final four years at the club due to injuries.

"Most of my best mates at the club were physios,” says the Aussie when asked if he still keeps in touch with anyone from his Boro days.

Yet despite the setbacks, Williams looks back fondly on his time at Middlesbrough, the place where he’s spent over a third of his life.

“It’s a club that’s the biggest part of my heart,” he admits. “I spent my whole career there, I check their results all the time and the boys who were in my team. It’s a team I will follow forever.”

A message from the Football Clubs Editor

Hi, our aim is to provide you with the best, most up-to-date and most informative coverage of YOUR club every single day, home and away, 365 days a year.

This depth of Boro coverage costs, so to help us maintain the high-quality reporting that you are used to from the football team at the Hartlepool Mail, please consider taking out a subscription to our new sports-only package.

You'll find all the details at www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/subscriptions/sports

Your support is much appreciated.

Richard Mennear, Football Clubs Editor