A major update has emerged on Manchester United fullback Brandon Williams, regarding the chances of him joining Southampton on loan next season.
What's the talk?
According to Hampshire Live, Manchester United are coming around to the idea of loaning Brandon Williams out next season. United rejected the chance to send Williams out on loan in the 2020/21 campaign as they wanted to keep him around Old Trafford as cover.
The report claims that United are now open to letting him leave on a temporary basis. Southampton and their Premier League rivals Norwich are both interested in landing the young full-back to bolster their respective squads this summer.
After handing Williams his Manchester United debut in 2019, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hailed him as being “brave” and praised his defending. He told MEN:
"The performance and debut of Brandon, fantastic. You can't see any nerves, he's so brave, the courage to take the ball and go forward. Great defending, very pleased, some big, big pluses today."
Ralph needs him
Southampton's fullback situation is in a dire state at the moment. Heading into next season, Kyle Walker-Peters is the only senior fullback, right-back or left-back, on Southampton's books.
Ryan Bertrand is set to leave the club on a free transfer, whilst Sam McQueen remains on the sidelines and youngster Yan Valery was shipped out on loan to Championship side Birmingham. This means that Southampton are in desperate need of fullback reinforcements in the coming weeks.
Williams, therefore, could be an excellent addition to Hasenhuttl's squad. Not only is he a solid option to potentially come in at right-back, but he is also capable of playing at left-back and has played on both sides at first-team level for Manchester United at Premier League level.
This shows that Solskjaer trusts Williams to put a good shift in on both sides of the pitch, which means that he could act as cover at right-back and left-back for Southampton - essentially providing two signings in one. Instead of bringing in a back-up for both positions, Martin Semmens can sign Williams and kill two birds with one stone - saving the club money in the transfer window.
The £65k-per-week dynamo has also proven his quality at Premier League and Europa League level. He averaged an exceptional WhoScored rating of 7.19 in the Europa League and 6.70 in the Premier League for United in the 2019/20 campaign as he started 19 games across those competitions.
He could be a useful and quality signing for the Saints, one that Hasenhuttl needs to fill out the gaps in his defensive ranks, so Semmens should pounce on this opportunity to sign him on loan next season now he's likely to be available.
AND in other news, Semmens must avoid Saints error over £30m dud who “goes backwards", fans would hate it...