Middlesbrough star Williams eyeing a return to first team action
EXCLUSIVE: Injuries have plagued the Middlesbrough career of highly-rated Socceroos player Rhys Willams, but as Christmas approaches, the versatile defender has been presented a special gift: fitness.
After two Achilles ruptures and a paltry 90 seconds of senior football in the past 22 months, Middlesbrough utility Rhys Williams feared his career was over – at the tender age of 27.
Williams admits to thumbing through his insurance policies during his darkest days to see how he and his young family might be fair in a future without football.
But, as Christmas approaches, Williams has received the perfect present: the gift of fitness and the chance to relight a fire which at its brightest saw him skipper his club and emerge as one of Australia’s most lauded prospects.
Middlesbrough is just two points of the top of the Championship as it bids to go one better than just season when it bombed out in the play-offs, and Williams is planning to be part of what he believes will be a promotion party as he nears his comeback from the career precipice.
“I’ve come through a massive injury and, I am not going to lie, there was a time there where I thought I was finished,” he said.
“Two ruptures on the same side is very uncommon. I think there was only a player in Spain who had the same thing and it ended his career.
“When I did it for the second time after just over a minute of my comeback match (against Barnsley in the FA Cup last January), I wasn’t in pain but I knew what had happened.
“Nobody touched me. The surgeon just said it was bad luck. It was a freak thing.
“Afterwards, I spoke with my wife Sas, my agent and my family and I looked into my insurance and to see how well I was covered because I felt then it might be the end for me.
“But, thankfully, the man above is looking down and he wants me to keep going. I’d never have made it back without Sas and my little boy Arden, and the staff at Middlesbrough"
Williams's voice resonates with a desire to try and claim back some of the lost years.
“I know that at my age I should have made more than 125-odd appearances for my club," he said. "Hopefully, though, and I know everybody says this, I just need to make up for lost time.
“I feel a lot better now coming back from this second rupture than the first … I am in better shape, I am stronger, I am jumping higher, running quicker and further than ever.
“The medical people are extremely happy. I had some nerve damage which required a small operation two months back and the results are looking good.
“I am back in full training at last, and a couple of games with the reserves and hopefully then I will be up for selection with the first team.
"I think we're going up automatically this year and I'd love to be a part of that.
“But with the team doing so well I know how hard it will be to get back in."
If that proves tough big an ask, at this stage, then Williams has a Pan B.
"Every footballer wants to play, and if I can’t play here the gaffer (Spaniard Aitor Karanka) is known for sending players out on loan. But we will see."
Comfortably Boro's longest serving player after 11 years at the Riverside, Williams is out of contract at the end of the season, and concedes that brings an added poignancy and pressure to a pivotal few months ahead.
“Of course, everybody gets a bit nervous when it’s your last year, especially with my injury record," he said. "But with my previous contracts I’ve always come back stronger than before and have gone on to secure new deals.
"I really feel this is my time. I’ve had a lot of setbacks with injuries (missing the 2010 and 2014 World Cups foremost among them) but it’s time to maybe prove a few people wrong and get back to where I should be.
Able to operate anywhere from central defence, right back to midfield, Williams, who is also hungry to return for his country.
“Just like with Middlesbrough, I know how hard it is to win a Socceroos place, but I will play anywhere for my country," added Williams, who was Australia's first choice right-back before being cut down.
“What I've been through would probably have cracked a lot of players, but I am mentally stronger now and I have it all to play for.”