Rhode Island FC Reportedly Agree to Transfer JJ Williams to Heart of Midlothian F.C.

Rhode Island FC is weathering a midseason storm right now. If Clay Holstad departing for the rest of the 2026 season was the thunder, we now have the lightning.

It was reported today that Rhode Island FC and Heart of Midlothian F.C. (Hearts) have agreed to the transfer of JJ Williams to Hearts for approximately £100,000. This looks to be a permanent sale, effective as soon as possible - placing Williams in Edinburgh as part of the Scottish Premiership side, and leaving a 6' 4" size gap at the heart of the Rhode Island attack.

The "Giant American Striker"

JJ Williams is not only one of the key faces and most well known personalities at Rhode Island FC, he is also the focal point of the Rhode Island attack. Hearts reportedly identified Williams through advanced analytics in their search for a large, quick striker who can press effectively, hold up play, win aerial duels, and - most importantly - bag goals. These are the qualities on the pitch that Rhode Island FC lose with the departure.

Off the field, Williams quickly endeared himself to the Rhode Island faithful through his intensity and fighting spirit. JJ is arguably the most fiery player to don the amber and blue in our relatively short history. He played with a swagger and confidence that I often felt that we needed more of. Last year, I wondered who would be the first Rhode Island player to "pop the top" in a goal celebration - and JJ answered the call just a short few games later.

Williams joined Rhode Island FC ahead of their inaugural 2024 season coming off of a career-best 12-goal, 10-assist season with Tampa Bay Rowdies in 2023. In his first season with Rhode Island, Williams battled through injuries and a complicated on-field relationship with his strike partner, Albert Dikwa, to put up a respectable six goals and six assists.

He followed that effort up in 2025 with seven goals in just 14 starts (18 appearances), after missing extended time through the middle of the season. Perhaps what hurts the most about this transfer is that JJ is on pace to have easily the second best season of his career - posting eight goals and four assists with 13 matches still to go.

To summarize, Williams has been on roughly 0.5 goal per 90 minute pace for four of his last five seasons in the USL. It's easy to see why he would attract interest from Europe - even if it's relatively uncommon for a 28-year old player in the USL Championship to attract this kind of attention.

Intangibles

Not to say that what JJ has accomplished in this league is easy - but there will always be a handful of players who are capable of scoring at a similar clip as JJ over the last several years.

What makes JJ different is his ability to score in the biggest moments. His best goal-scoring patch for Rhode Island FC came in the form of: a hat-trick in the final match of the 2024 season against Miami FC, followed by another hat-trick on the road at Indy Eleven in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals, followed by a brace against the top seed in the eastern conference, Louisville City FC. For those keeping score, that's eight goals in three games to almost single-handedly will the team to the Eastern Conference Finals.

In 2026, JJ chipped in with a goal and an assist to beat Hartford Athletic in the Open Cup, and then equalized against the New England Revolution in the following round, in the 11th minute of second half stoppage time.

Is This Good for Rhode Island FC?

Ultimately, we'll need to re-invest the money from this transfer to bring in a top quality striker for 2027.

The fee of approximately £100,000 is equal to $135,372.50 - an exceptionally good fee by USL Championship standards, especially for a 28-year old whose contract is set to expire in November. Keep in mind that just ahead of this season, a six-figure transfer fee - the highest intra-league fee paid in USL Championship history - was completed for Aaron Molloy. Seeing JJ go hurts, but it's good business to get six figures back for a player with months left on their contract.

Beyond the favorable transfer fee, this is also a big, big deal for Rhode Island FC and for the USL Championship. It is our first international transfer - and it's to one of the biggest teams in a top-flight European league. For reference, OPTA has the USL Championship ranked 117 in the world right now, and the Scottish Premiership at 35. It is a big step up, and it's a great reflection on Rhode Island FC and the league to transfer a player there.

Talented players with aspirations to play in higher leagues will look at the examples of Clay Holstad and JJ Williams, and recognize Rhode Island FC as a club that can get them to the next level.

The Plan for 2026

In the short term, there's a few ways that Rhode Island FC can tackle this problem - and I wouldn't expect any of them to immediately replace JJ's goalscoring record and his consistency. The answer may be Osman Foyo as a like-for-like JJ replacement.

At the time of the signing, Andrew Quadros wrote about the similarities in Williams and Foyo's profile to make Foyo the potential long-term JJ replacement. I just don't think we expected it to be so soon.

Of course, with how quickly this all went down, it might be too soon to put such a goal-scoring burden on a 21-year old who is adjusting to life in a new country.

What other options do we have? We actually have a couple - although it is unclear whether Khano and the team are willing and wanting to adjust to play to their strengths. We've seen Noah Fuson - a player who has struggled with confidence and finding a consistent roll for this season - play at striker in the past. Leo Afonso has also played as a number nine at times throughout his career.

However - Noah and Leo do not have similar profiles to JJ Williams. They are not built to stand up to the physical abuse that JJ endures every match in order to hold up the ball and win aerial duels.

If we were to play one of them up top, it should signal a departure in our usual style of play - you would expect to see us play more direct and have Noah or Leo attempting to run in behind the opponent's defense - using their creativity, pace, and dribbling abilities to create chances, rather than their physicality.

For me, I'd like to see us pick one of these options and commit to it - whether it's Foyo, Noah, or Leo. What I fear is that we'll see a little bit of all, and not give any of them settle in and find some consistency / rhythm playing as the focal point in the attack.

Again - these are literally and figuratively giant boots to fill. Farewell for now, JJ.