The former Middlesbrough man has one key regret from his time on Teesside.
Middlesbrough are gearing up for the 2024/25 Championship season, which begins in one week for the Teessiders.
Michael Carrick will welcome Swansea City to the Riverside Stadium for a 12:30 pm kick-off on Saturday, August 10th.
Boro finished fourth and eighth during Carrick’s first two seasons at the club but Middlesbrough’s promotion chances look more positive this time around.
The Teesiders have made three smart first-team signings this summer and have been able to keep hold of all their key players.
The last manager to win promotion to the Premier League with the North East outfit was Aitor Karanka.
Karanka was appointed manager of Middlesbrough on November 13th, 2023 after a three-year spell as Jose Mourinho’s assistant at Real Madrid.
The Spaniard took Boro to the play-off final during his first full campaign, where they lost to Norwich City.
But the former defender would secure Middlesbrough a return to the top flight one season later.
Luke Williams opens up on Middlesbrough regret
During Karanak’s tenure in the North East, a number of players cemented themselves as club icons.
Goalkeeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos, a Middlesbrough record holder, will go down as one of Boro’s best-ever shot-stoppers.
Elsewhere, Adama Clayton and Grant Leadbitter became fan favourites for their aggressive dominance in midfield, while Ben Gibson and Daniel Ayala remain one of the club’s best centre-back pairings in recent years.
However, not everyone at the club thrived during the mid-2010s, including former player, Luke Williams.
Williams is a local lad and product of Middlesbrough’s academy, making his senior debut in 2009 under Gordon Strachan.
The striker was handed further chances under Tony Mowbray and the aforementioned Karanka but left Boro in July 2015 for Scunthorpe United, right before their promotion to the Premier League.
Now, speaking to the Northern Echo, Williams has opened up on his regret at leaving Middlesbrough when he did.
He said: “They [Scunthorpe] put an offer in, Middlesbrough accepted and I thought that must mean my time is up.
“Maybe I could have said no, I’m going to fight for my place, and looking back I wish I had done that and backed myself a little bit, but that’s life isn’t it. I think it was probably me being a bit young and naïve.”
What has Luke Williams done since leaving Middlesbrough
Williams spent three years at Scunthorpe where he scored nine and assisted nine in 52 games.
He was loaned to Northampton Town during that period but only played eight times for the club.
The striker was released by Scunthorpe in 2018 and spent one year without a club before joining local side Hartlepool United in 2019.
Williams only played 19 times for Hartleepool in a two-year stint before moving to fellow North East club, Gateshead Town.
The Englishman struggled at Gateshead as well but has spent the last two years in Iceland with Víkingur Ólafsvík.
He has impressed with his latest team, scoring 13 goals in 33 matches so far.