Nico Shay Williams is a Welsh Footballer, who plays in the capacity of a right-back for Premier League club Nottingham Forest and the Wales national football team. He was also a member of the Wales team that qualified for the FIFA World Cup in 2022 and has become one of the most promising young players in British football. This young defender has already won the FA Youth Cup, the Premier League, and the FIFA Club World Cup, much earlier in their career along with the EFL Cup before departing to join Nottingham Forest in 2022.
In this article, we’ll discuss more about his personal life, career, biography, and much more. Keep reading!
Biography
Neco Williams was born on 13th April 2001 and is 22 years old as of today. He was born in Wrexham, Wales to Lee and Emma Williams.
Neco is known for his agility, speed, and physical strength on the field. You probably love him and find his performance impressive because just like Djed Spence, Neco is very much attack-oriented. He has an instinctive, off-the-cuff type of Defender skills, and is blessed with tremendous energy and stamina. His height is 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) tall and weighs around 68 kg (150 lbs), which is considered to be a healthy weight for his height.
At a very young age, Neco has become a role model for young footballers of all backgrounds who aspire to play at national levels, showing that hard work, passion, and dedication can help one realize their dreams.
Family History
Neco is of mixed ethnicity, with his mother, Emma being Welsh and his father, Lee being of Jamaican descent. Neco is proud of his mixed heritage and has spoken out about the importance of race and ethnicity inclusion in football and society as a whole. His nickname is “The Pride of Cefn Mawr.”
He is one among four siblings and is a second-born to his parents. Growing up, he had a passion for playing football, and it was his most prized possession. His parents also bought him a Welsh football jersey as a child, and he still owns it as a memory. Neco Williams’ siblings Keelan and Ocea were also just like him. As soon as little Neco started walking, he was inclined towards kicking balls and thoroughly enjoyed playing. His parents saw this interest in him and got him into coaching classes for Football.
His parents ensured from a very young age that he had a football-friendly home. They had a house with a small backyard where the kids could play soccer. Emma and Lee Williams also bought their kids a portable soccer net and goal post set. Eventually, Neco made friends with other kids interested in soccer, and since then, his interest in soccer has only grown stronger. He and his friends also used to mark targets with chalk for better practice.
The Welsh family are business people. Neco’s dad and his siblings have careers overseas, while his mother, Emma, runs a family business, Dance Zone Academy which is a free-syle dance school for kids above the age of 3.
You might be wondering, where does Neco get his knack for football from if his parents are business people? Well, his parents were amateur footballers when they were young. In fact, his mother played as a right-back for her local city team. Neco’s grandfather was also a great footballer of his time. To this date, Neco still remembers how his grandfather used to teach him to kick a football and use his left foot. It’s safe to say that passion for football really does run into the William family’s veins.
Career Trajectory
He began his career in Football at a very young age, joining the Liverpool FC academy in 2009 when he was only 6 years old. He impressed his coaches, rose through the ranks, and really made his mark in the industry with an impressive work ethic. He suffered a serious back injury because of which he did not play in the 2017–18 season but recovered his place to feature in the club’s victorious FA Youth Cup campaign two years later.
5 years ago, in 2018, he signed his first professional contract and started making appearances for the Liverpool U23 team.
He impressed his seniors in the Liverpool team in almost no time, and since then, he has been promoted and encouraged to make bigger appearances. He made his first-team debut in a Carabao Cup game against Arsenal in October 2019, followed by other games for the Premier League, Champions League, and FA Cup. In December, he was included in Liverpool’s squad which won the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup, however, Neco could not get a chance to play any of the matches as he was only a substitute. He starred in a team largely made up of teenagers and reserves that defeated Merseyside rivals Everton in the FA Cup 3rd round, and Shrewsbury Town in the 4th round replay, forcing an own goal from Ro-Shaun Williams in the latter fixture to secure his side’s progression in the competition.
His international career has been equally impressive, where he has represented Wales at various levels. He also made his senior debut in September 2020 in a UEFA Nations League game against Finland. The team believes that he has played a significant role in helping the team qualify for the European Championships in 2021. He scored his first goal for the senior team on 6 September 2020 against Bulgaria in the UEFA Nations League, scoring the winning goal in a 1–0 victory for Wales. In May 2021 he was selected for the Wales squad for the delayed UEFA Euro 2020 tournament. He also helped the Wales team qualify for the FIFA World Cup in 2022, for the first time after 1958. In November 2022 he was called into the Wales team for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
As of today, Williams has been promoted to the Premier League club Nottingham Forest on 10 July 2022 on a four-year contract for a fee of £17 million.
With so many years still ahead of him, we believe that Neco has the potential to become one of the best right-backs in the world.