Liverpool confirmed the departure on their official website. Williams, 25, used Instagram to mark the moment.
"From signing as a 9-year-old boy to leaving as a 25-year-old man. This club has allowed me to fulfil dreams," he wrote. "It has been an honour to wear this shirt, rub shoulders with legends and play for the world's best fans. Thank you to all the players, staff and everyone who contributed along the way. I will be forever grateful for having represented this club. Thank you, Liverpool. YNWA."
Williams emerged as an unlikely Premier League performer during the 2020-21 season when Liverpool's defensive injury crisis stripped the first-team squad to the bone. With Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip all sidelined for significant periods, Williams made nine top-flight appearances in a campaign that tested the limits of the club's resources.
His performances drew genuine praise given the pressure and the company he was required to keep. But once that crisis passed and the senior defenders returned to fitness, Williams' pathway to regular football at Anfield narrowed significantly.
Four successive loan spells followed — Blackpool, Aberdeen, Port Vale and Morecambe — as Williams sought the regular game time that could not be guaranteed at a club operating consistently in pursuit of the top honours. None of those temporary moves generated the momentum needed to force his way back into Liverpool's long-term plans.
He made no Premier League appearances this season.
Williams joined Liverpool's academy in 2009. He leaves in a summer in which the club faces significant rebuilding work, with Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson also departing on free transfers.
His name will not appear in the honours lists alongside those of the players he trained alongside. But he wore the shirt, played in the biggest games his generation of footballers had to offer, and represented the club he came through for sixteen years.
That is its own kind of story.