Ryan Williams comeback delayed at new club Barnsley

Australia Under-23 flier Ryan Williams’s hopes of hitting the ground running with new club Barnsley have suffered a setback with a lingering groin injury set to sideline him for the opening few weeks of the season.

Ryan Williams's season at Barnsley has stalled (Getty) Source: Getty Images

Freshly arrived from Championship side Fulham on a two-year deal, having been on loan at the League One club last season, Williams – younger brother of side-lined Socceroos star Rhys Williams – is out to make his mark in 2015-2106 after failing to make a breakthrough under coach Kit Symons at Craven Cottage.

The groin injury, for which he has now received a number of cortisone injections, didn’t help his cause – but Williams, 21, is confident he will be fit and firing shortly and able to get his career on an upward arc again.

"I've been carrying the injury for a while now but I had a couple of steroid injections the other day and it's starting to settle down now and I should be a week or two weeks away now," said Williams, as he prepares to sit out Sunday's (AEST) opening game away at Chesterfield.

"There's a pubic overload there and I haven't been able to train too much in the pre-season – the injury was a part of why I didn't get a real shot at Fulham.

"The doctor at Barnsley has said to be patient and take it day by day. I am there for two years and while I want to play as soon as I can, I don't want to make it worse."

Williams made only two senior appearances with the London club during a three-year stay which also saw him loaned out on three occasions.

"I was never really the same after I picked the injury up but now I feel like I am getting a lot better," he added.

"I am at the tail end of me now after five or six months with the problem."

Williams, who has been earmarked by Barnsley coach Lee Johnson as one of his key men this season, added: "We have a good young team here, and it's good because I know if I perform I'll play each week, and that's something I probably couldn't have counted on at Fulham.

"That's really the reason behind the move … the club really wanted me and the manager really wanted me and has told me I am a big part of his plans.

"It gives you that confidence. The boss here likes to play football, which you don't often find in League One. It was a no brainer to be honest.

"At Fulham, I probably just wasn't the sort of player the manager liked. It was a bit if different story under the previous boss (Felix Magath) where I played a few games. But everything happens for a reason, I guess.

"You just have to keep trying to move forward, whether it takes you longer or not. If a manager doesn't like you it doesn't mean you are not good, it just means you might not be his type of player. Everybody has their own opinions."

Williams sees the move as not such much a step back with a view to moving forward again, but more a move sideways.

"Barnsley aren’t a small club. They were in the Championship for many years and will be aiming to go up this season after going down the season before last."

Ryan has no doubts that sibling Rhys will also soon be back in action after just 60 seconds of football in the last 19 months for his club Middlesbrough due to his double Achilles rupture.

"He's getting there slowly and it won't be too much longer before he is back," he predicted.

"He will get back to the top level for sure and if anything the injury has just made him hungrier to succeed.

"Rhys has never relied on his speed and strength and is more technical player who reads the game so well – and I see no reason why he won't be every bit as good as he was.

"I have now moved to live in Leeds and the great thing about that is that I am only an hour or so away from where Rhys lives.

"He's been a big support for me with this injury, which is the worst I've ever had and when the Barnsley move came up he helped me looks at the all the positives and negatives and he was a big factor in me making the decision."