Boyhood Preston North End fan Rhys Williams has had his spell at bitter rivals Blackpool cut short as he returns to Liverpool.
Williams surprised many when he made the move from Liverpool to Blackpool over the summer.
The 6ft 5in defender was born in Preston, grew up supporting PNE and even spent time in the North End youth ranks as a youngster.
You don’t often see boyhood PNE fans turning out for Blackpool, but Williams made the loan move to Bloomfield Road for the season.
Williams needed first-team minutes having failed to break through during a loan spell at Swansea City last season
At the end of the day, Williams is a professional and put his apparent PNE allegiance to one side in order to try and excel with Blackpool.
Williams made 13 league starts for Blackpool whilst also making four substitute appearances.
The 21-year-old even came on for 10 minutes during Blackpool’s 4-2 win over PNE back in October.
Williams only played five times after that game though and Liverpool have now decided to bring him back to Anfield.
It’s unclear whether Williams will end up out on loan again or serve as additional cover for Liverpool in the heart of their defence.
Williams can be proud of how he conducted himself during this loan spell, always being a top professional even when some fans turned on him over the summer due to his PNE connections.
Two Championship loan spells being cut short isn’t ideal for Williams but he has plenty of quality in his locker and may well seek a permanent move away from Liverpool in the near future as he looks to settle down.
North End fans will be hoping to see Williams thrive moving forward and who knows – maybe he will end up as a PNE player one day, you just never know.