Honestly I doubt he reaches that level. Phil Neville was a good player that would have walked into the first team of all but the very top teams (as seen by him quickly establishing himself as the captain of an Everton team who were regularly the best of the rest outside the top four at the time), and getting 59 caps for England. If it weren't for him wanting to leave to become first choice, I'm sure Fergie would have loved to have kept him for many more years as a fantastic squad player who could keep the starting players on their toes.
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No he isn’t, they are the same school year so they’ve always been the same age group.
The Laird thing has been said by loads of idiots who don’t know what they are talking about. They are the same age group and been here since 8 years old, it doesn’t even make any sense. Nor has Laird always played RB anyway. Laird was the LB at u16s level. While Williams played a lot of RW. Williams also played lots of CB at u14/15 with Garner.
Yes in the younger age groups he moved around positions so wasn’t settled, as every player at the club does, so like I said he was never a RB.
Good shout
I believe he can be a very good epl level left fullback. I doubt it can be for us though because I feel we have more talented left backs than he is on our books.
Whilst im not the biggest williams fan and think he is short of the quality needed to be a top 4 player, I do think he does have a pretty decent base skill set in terms of a good touch, decent crossing, passing, dribbling etc. So whilst I think its a hugeeee long shot, if you tell me in 5 years time that he will be playing the cancelo role for a top 4 team I wouldn't be that shocked.
Its just so hard to tell sometimes with players. Dalot for example was absolutely dreadful 1 on 1 defending, but since Ralf has given him a run its actually been pretty good.
I'd be astonished. Cancelo has always been vastly more skilful than Williams. He's arguably the best full back in the world at the minute.
Yeah I'm like 99.9% sure he won't get to that level. But would it be surprising if say an arsenal, milan or similar size team ended up buying him and played him as an inverted full back and he ended doing well? I don't think it would be absolutely crazy. When he plays on the left he cuts inside so much anyway that he ends up inadvertently playing that way. Sometimes with players they look absolutely basic in an orthodox role but just might be the right profile for a more specialised role. I think williams has the base skillset to play that role, whether he's actually good enough to do it at a good level is another thing.
Cancelo is such a threat there largely because his passing is exceptional, and then he's the added bonus that he can usually beat a man if they get too tight to him. Williams has shown nothing in terms of his passing to suggest he could do the same sort of thing IMO.
Named January player of the month for Norwich. Not bad.
How’s he been doing that has got Ralf all excited? Supposedly Tod him that he will return to United and not be sold.
Could simply be a case of us wanting to offload other fullbacks and we need a squad player who might be the right ilk of fullback.
Hopefully it’s not a sign that Ralf has convinced everyone that Shaw is not good enough
I'd be more worried if I was Wan-Bissaka. But then Shaw hasn't exactly been great this season, but he could still turn it around.
Post right above yours answers your question.
I suppose what I’m looking for is has he been very good to warrant that rather than be sold whilst we can get some money for him? I’ve as yet, not been convinced he’s a first team squad member for United
Yeah possibly. I suppose I was just thinking more about ralfs damning comments about Shaw before he even came to United and he hasn’t been great since then
I think he is better at following instructions and capable of playing at a much higher level of tempo. That'll be what gets him the pass.
You could be right. Time will tell. At least he’s at a team that has a good record with developing young players
Don't get me wrong. I rate him. But he has his work cut out trying to climb over Shaw, Telles and Fernandez to be a regular at left back for us.
He may not be the starting full back, but he could be a good back up option. Right now Dalot is playing all the game, he would need a rest. Both Dalot and Brandon Williams can play on both flank. We can't put ourselves in desperate situation having to buy multiple positions at once, and taken to the cleaner even for squad options.
Telles himself seems to be one of those players who want more minutes. Unlike Dalot and AWB situation, Telles is not really making a case of being better than Shaw even with the new style. Telles would be 30 years old in December 2022 and he's never physically gifted, so we should entertain the idea of selling him if a right offer comes.
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I didn't see much of a future for him under Ole (not to mention also given the context of his performances), but I can definitely see a role for him as a squad member under RR (and indeed a future coach who has similar perspectives on pressing). Brandon Williams's intensity and aggression will be much more suited to RR's playing style than, say, Wan Bissaka, and whom I can see him overtaking in the pecking order. I think Dean Smith's a good coach for him too and no doubt his time at Norwich (with their backs against the wall most weeks) will be a useful experience to have under his belt.
Forgot he was our player to be honest.
Unfortunately for Williams I think Laird will be ready to challenge AWB and Dalot for RB next season. Thats why I feel his direct competition is Shaw, Telles and Alex Fernandez. If we do chose to sale Telles/he asks to leave. Then his chances improve. But with Telles finally sharing minutes with Shaw and Rangnick clearly liking him. Its gonna be tough.
Looks like he sorted out his shit haircut too? This kid is going places.
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Forgot about this lad, hope he’s doing well. I was never particularly convinced but if Ralfs rates him I’m hoping he comes back & does well.
That is the result of not being under the influence of evil Pogba.
Pogba only recently went pretty normal with his hair though…
Played well Saturday I thought. Good to see the loan has done him good.
Clashed with a brentford player and was about to punch him. It turned out to be eriksen so he hugged him instead. Highlight of the game 
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Norwich fans love him!
Bring him home……….
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They want it promised, not earn it
Should be sold.
Been an excellent loan, the type we should do more as he has potentially put us in a position where we can get 15-20m this summer for him now.
If true, then that's a shame. He can be an option, but nowhere near good enough for guaranteed game time
Definitely a great time to cash out. I just hope the United hierarchy don’t delude themselves into thinking that every Utd youth product who does well is obviously good enough to play at the aspired United level.
We need to be a lot more savvy in this area. Look much Liverpool have rinsed clubs for the likes of Brewster and Ibe. If we had Brewster and Ibe, they’d probably be sitting on £80k a week as we’re trying to get rid after we found out theyre not actually that good for this level.
Absolutely. It’s mainly due to our attitude and history to academy players that if any of them show anything above completely useless, we want to keep them around due to some DNA spiel I suspect.
With good timing, we could have probably gotten £80m for Henderson, Tuanzebe and Williams alone - all at no particular loss to the first team. We’ll be lucky to get 5m for Axel this summer. Tbh it wouldn’t surprise me to read posters saying he should be back here as first choice next season as they seem to have been saying that for 3 years with no justification at all.
I’m happy we eventually did good business on James too, although Ole seemed very reluctant!
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