Burnley land West Brom centre back

The 18-year-old, who spent six years in the academy at West Bromwich Albion, has agreed a one-year deal with the option of a further 12 months, after a trial spell towards the end of last season.

Williams was with the Under 23s for the start of pre-season training at Barnfield last week, and after signing, linked up with the squad for their training camp in Scotland on Monday.

And he said: "Last year I had an injury which put me back a little bit, so I didn’t get much game time.

“But as soon as I came here, I settled in really well with the lads.

“Steve Stone and Faz (Andy Farrell) were really welcoming and I liked it out on the field, how involved they were and giving me pointers all the time.

“The facilities here are brilliant, the staff helped me hit the ground running when I came in and I’m excited about the future.

“Coming off the back of last year, when I didn’t have much game time, I’ll be looking at getting those minutes in during pre-season and giving everything, improving in the gym, improving on the pitch and doing everything I can and see what opportunities come.”

And he hopes to learn from some of the top centre backs in the country at Burnley: “I like to head it and like to be aggressive.

“I’ll give everything and the main job is to keep that ball out of the net, isn’t it?

“Looking at players in the first team, like James Tarkowski and Ben Mee, that’s what I aspire to

really.

“Tough centre-halves who are not nice to play against and put their body on the line.”