Williams relishing pre-season opportunity

The full-back made his third outing of this pre-season in Wednesday’s encounter with Real Madrid in Houston, coming on for the final half-hour of the 2-0 defeat at the NRG Stadium.

And the 22-year-old is relishing the opportunity to be involved, gel with the new additions and work hard to put himself in Erik ten Hag’s thoughts for the new campaign.

“It’s my first pre-season in three years,” he told us after the game in Texas. “The other pre-seasons I’ve been injured so I’ve come back hungry and I’m enjoying the tour, and enjoying getting to know the new players coming in as well.

“It’s good to be together as it’s about making that team spirit going into the season stronger. It helps when you’re on the pitch if you know a player off the pitch as well. 

“So it’s good to speak to some of the foreign players, getting to know their culture, and even the younger boys who’ve come up and done really well. Those who’ve come up might be shy so it’s important to speak to them and get that relationship.

“It’s been an enjoyable week so far and we’ve got one game to go.”

That game is against Borussia Dortmund in Las Vegas on Monday, live on MUTV, before the Reds return home for a friendlies against Lens at Old Trafford and Athletic Club in Dublin. The Premier League season then begins with a home fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 14 August.

And Williams, who spent the 2021/22 season on loan at Norwich City before an injury-hit 2022/23 campaign limited him to just one first-team outing, will be aiming to put himself into the frame to add to his 48 senior appearances for United. 

“You’ve just got to get ready for the first game of the season,” he said. “You never know, you might be starting – football can change so quickly so you have to prepare yourself as best you can and get involved with the team.”