Southampton have missed out on one of their long-term transfer targets, with Brandon Williams joining Norwich City on loan from Manchester United.

What's the word?

Southampton were first linked with the young full-back in the January transfer window last season, with Hasenhuttl clearly keen on bringing him to St Mary's, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's late decision to keep him at Old Trafford seemingly the only reason why he didn't complete a loan switch.

Unsurprisingly, Southampton continued to be linked with the 21-year-old this summer, increasingly after Ryan Bertrand left the club, as it left the Saints very short on full-back options.

Would Williams have been a good signing?

Romain Perraud and Tino Livramento have joined the club as left-back and right-back options, but it seems as if Hasenhuttl is considering Moussa Djenepo as his main back-up to the Frenchman on the left-hand side, which is a far from ideal situation for the Saints to be in.

Therefore, signing someone such as Williams, who has played on either side during his time at Manchester United, would have still made a lot of sense for Southampton this summer, especially as he would've been a cheap option as a loan deal.

However, with Southampton links to the 20-year-old having died down in recent weeks, Norwich have finally won the race to sign Williams, with Norwich confirming that he is joining Daniel Farke's squad for the season.

Reports suggested that Southampton pulled out of the potential loan switch due to the fee that United were demanding but if Southampton find themselves in another situation similar to last season, where they were without both of their first-choice full-backs and forced to rely on youngsters, then the Saints may well regret not bringing Williams in.

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The defender, who was dubbed an "exciting young English talent" by Gary Lineker in 2020, could've improved the depth at Southampton, and Saints fans may well be disappointed to see him join the Canaries instead.

And, in other news... Southampton should reignite interest in "powerful" former target