‘Should have kept him!’ - Steven Gerrard slams Liverpool for £17m transfer mistake after Nottingham Forest draw

Gerrard did not hold back in his assessment of Liverpool’s transfer business after witnessing Williams help Nottingham Forest secure a hard-fought draw on Merseyside. The former Anfield captain, speaking in his capacity as a pundit for TNT Sports, expressed his deep frustration that a player he once mentored in the youth ranks was allowed to depart so easily in 2022.

Reflecting on the Welshman’s impact, Gerrard was effusive in his praise for the 23-year-old, who won a penalty that Morgan Gibbs-White converted to put Forest ahead before Victor Munoz’s goal restored parity.

"Neco’s been great for Forest, I think Forest has been great for him. It’s a good match," Gerrard said. "The fans love them. He’s committed, he’s excellent out of possession, he’s physical. And he’s playing out of position at the moment.

"You’ve got to remember he’s a right-back or a right-wingback and he’s doing a fantastic job for the team on the left. Over the course of the season, he can cover both sides. So I think from a manager’s point of view you certainly wouldn’t want to lose him."

Gerrard, who worked closely with Williams during his time as a coach in the Liverpool academy, believes the defender is still far from reaching his peak. Despite making just 13 Premier League appearances for the Reds before his £17m move to the City Ground in 2022, his former coach maintains that his professional attitude was always top-tier.

"This is a player that trains the way he plays," Gerrard added. "He comes in every morning; he does everything right; he’s very professional; he’s a winner. He’s very aggressive, he’s a competitor, and we already knew he’d got the talent. If you put everything around your talent, you can play at this level and you can stay at this level.

"And I still think he hasn’t hit his ceiling yet; I still think he’s at an age where he can go to the next level with experience and time and more games."

The timing of Williams' rise at Forest is particularly painful for Liverpool fans following the seismic departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid last summer. With the England international gone, the right-back position has become a glaring weakness for manager Andoni Iraola, who is still searching for his first victory since taking the reins.

Gerrard continued his analysis, saying: "He’s playing out of position; he’s doing an incredible job on the left side. Can you imagine what he’d be like if he played on the right side? For me, he’s a fantastic full-back and - I’m not just saying it and I apologise to the Forest fans - Liverpool should have kept him, that’s for sure."

With Conor Bradley currently sidelined through injury, the depth chart at full-back looks increasingly thin for a club with title aspirations. The experiment of playing Dominik Szoboszlai in a deeper defensive role has met with mixed results, leading Gerrard to suggest that a move in the upcoming transfer window might be the only viable solution to fix the imbalance.

"I am worried on the right side," Gerrard aded after the game. "I think the evidence of that is when you’ve got to put arguably your best player, Szoboszlai, at right back again. You saw that too many times last season.

"The injury to Conor Bradley is hurting Liverpool, he’s their best right-back. Obviously, Trent moving on, we’ve spoken about that on numerous occasions. It wouldn’t surprise me if we try to do something in that position."