Contrary to reports: Newspaper drops new update on Leeds links to “unbelievable” talent
The Manchester United defender was recently rumoured to be of interest to Daniel Farke at Elland Road.
Leeds United’s links with a summer move for Manchester United defender Brandon Williams are wide of the mark, according to reports in the last 48 hours.
Who is Brandon Williams?
Williams is naturally a left-back and academy graduate at Old Trafford having worked his way up through the various youth ranks to get promoted to the first team back in 2019, but despite having been a part of the senior fold for four years, he’s always been significantly out of favour at his boyhood club.
In the Premier League last season, the 21-year-old made zero appearances over the course of the whole campaign, with his lack of regular minutes having previously seen him sent out on a season-long loan to Championship rivals Norwich City in order to stay fit and gain as much experience as possible.
England’s former youth international will be out of contract in less than a year, meaning that now is the perfect chance for Erik ten Hag’s side to cash in for a decent fee should they not want to risk losing him for free, and they had thought that they’d found a potential suitor waiting for him at Elland Road.
The Independent’s Miguel Delaney recently reported that the Whites were looking to sign the full-back, likely as a result of Daniel Farke managing him during his time at Carrow Road, and it was claimed by the same outlet that the Red Devils want to raise funds so would have been open to a sale, though it would appear that’s not in fact the case.
Are Leeds signing Brandon Williams?
According to The Yorkshire Evening Post, Leeds claims that they are interested in Williams are “wide of the mark” contrary to the above outlet stating otherwise. West Bromwich Albion forward Grady Diangana is another of the latest names to be linked with a switch to LS11, but once again, this has been downplayed.
Following the arrivals of Ethan Ampadu and Karl Darlow, the 49ers are “unlikely to make any further additions” ahead of the first game of the 2023/24 season against Cardiff City on Sunday, however they are “primed to act” should they lose any of their first team stars between now and then.
Leeds already have Pascal Struijk, Junior Firpo and Leo Fuhr Hjedle available to them at left-back so it doesn’t really make sense to be targeting another one, and whilst Williams has previously been lauded “unbelievable” by talent scout Jacek Kulig, he’s perhaps not the perfect player that the club should be looking to recruit.
The Manchester-born talent will first of all take time to get up to full speed having made just five appearances across all competitions last term rather than being match ready and raring to go, not to mention that he’s underwhelming going forward having only provided three assists and scored one goal in 51 senior matches for United, as per Transfermarkt.
Williams, who’s sponsored by Puma, also currently pockets £65k-per-week and is likely to demand a relatively high salary should he join – his current amount would make him the joint third-highest earner on the books – and for a defender who has as small of an impact as he does, he wouldn’t be worth splashing the cash on this summer
