View: 96% Portsmouth star Williams one of the most efficient Championship pickups of the summer
Portsmouth star Jordan Williams has excelled since joining the club on a free transfer in the summer, one of the league’s tidiest signings.
Playing every minute of the opening four league games of the campaign, the 24-year-old has shown a much-needed reliability at the back as the club continue to adapt to the new Championship challenge.
Signed from Barnsley where he had captained the side and played across both the second and third tiers, Williams is experienced for his age and has fit seamlessly into John Mousinho’s team.
Of the 14 first-team signings brought to Pompey during the recent transfer window, Williams was scored the highest – considering both immediate impact and future potential for the club – with 8/10.
Portsmouth benefiting from Jordan Williams deal
When it became clear Williams would be leaving Oakwell, there was little explanation required for the interest he attracted for a free transfer, and Portsmouth won the race.
Despite a tricky start from the fixture list, he has largely shone, operating at both centre-half and his preferred right-back, and acts as an excellent cog in the Mousinho machine of playing through the lines from the back.
His 96% pass accuracy in his own half is key to minimising errors in his own half, and an overall 90% success rate of offloading possession [Sofascore] ensures Pompey can, often enough, work around teams’ high press.
This worked in the first half against Sunderland with the game goalless until the defender’s freak error as his clearance cannoned into the net off the unfortunate Zak Swanson – these are once-in-a-season mistakes and cannot be accounted for.
Williams’ passing was massive for Barnsley in League One last term, with 1,868 successful passes throughout the campaign – outranking many of his counterparts across the league as shown by Fotmob.
Defensively, the new Pompey arrival has demonstrated an effective ratio of stopping attacks, winning 80% of his challenges to retain his side the ball – not to mention the versatility to move infield to central defence, which has been crucial to a side missing several centre-backs.
Williams will be heavily counted on by Mousinho and despite his peak years lying ahead, has already shown a crucial maturity which in time will help the side claim more and more clean sheets in a ruthless Championship marathon.
In other Portsmouth news, David Norris opens up on the different transfer window views for a player.
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