Age: 19years 5months
Nationality: England
Birth Place: Harpurhey, Manchester
Current Club: Manchester United
Position: Left/wing Back
A story out of nowhere is exactly how to describe the emergence of Brandon Williams. A player that didn’t even appear on Manchester United’s pre-season tour to Dubai at the start of the current season, Williams has forged his own path to United’s first team. Looking at his stats, will help you understand just how it’s happened.
Brandon Williams is pretty much the perfect tonic to Manchester United’s ‘big club issues’. Meaning that whilst the fans feel distanced from issues relating to players such as Paul Pogba and previously Romelu Lukaku, a reminder of the ‘born and bread’ type players that fans have resonated to in years gone by still exist in Brandon Williams. He is a small piece of Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs in the way he is as footballer, he’s the kind of player that fans at Old Trafford have missed since the above mentioned players called time on their careers.
Williams has a swagger, yet a rough and ready image when he’s on the field. His work rate is ridiculous and something that opposition wingers have so far struggled to overcome when facing up to the youngster, he runs more than most and it counts for a lot at Manchester United. The England u19 International comes with a die hard attitude which is evident with almost everything he does on a pitch, be it his surging runs forward, his last ditched and well timed tackles at the back or his aggression when an opposition player goes toe-to-toe with him. It’s a very strong image to be able to have, as Manchester United is a club that needs that kind of player to succeed, they need that level of honesty and desire from a certain amount of players on the pitch.
It’s not just Williams’ attitude or body language that are the things that has made his emergence in the first team at Old Trafford successful though. The boy comes with a strong skills set ranging from tackling, to positioning, through to transitioning very well and driving forward with the ball, Williams has shown a degree of the skills required to be successful at the highest level. Ultimately, Williams has took his opportunity to play at Left Back for United through injuries to Luke Shaw and the initial injury and subsequent sale of Ashley Young. He’s had to be patient and see through the traffic that was in front of him, something he has done well. However, since Luke Shaw has returned from injury, Williams has kept his left back competitor out of the side based on his almost man of the match worthy displays in games at Sheffield United, twice against Wolves in the FA Cup and in the league and against Burnley away from home too.
The stats model will follow this article, but when you get the chance to read it you’ll see just how prolific Williams has been for Manchester United and just why he has kept an England international in Luke Shaw out of the side. He has a high number of successful ground duels won, almost all of his attempted defensive tackles have favoured him and passing and chance creation in the final third, all though not prolific, is heading in the right direction. An area for Brandon to look at improving would be his decision making in the final third, whilst it’s not bad at the moment he somewhat opts for a conservative option. We have seen through his model a tendency to pass side ways or backwards when he has the ball in an attacking position. He has aborted a fair percentage of attacking ground duels, which doesn’t mean he has lost possession but hasn’t followed through with attacking the opposition player when in possession of the ball. As time goes on, Brandon will look to refine his skills and build on areas such as his attacking standards, he has the ability to do this which is the most important thing.
It’s without doubt that we think Brandon will have a very high chance of gaining a permanent place in Manchester United’s side in the next season or so. We rate him highly at TSS and believe if his progression continues at the same rate as we’ve so far seen, he could well be the best left back in the league at some point in his career. We don’t often opt for big statements such as the one above, but our stats indicate a strong and progressive movement towards model’s of players that have made a success of their careers. it’s encouraging to see such development and indicates that Manchester United don’t need to heavily rely upon bringing talent to the club, as players like Williams sit in the background waiting for their chance.
In summary, Brandon Williams is a shining light in another wise trying season for his club. He has been burdened with a lot of responsibility by his manager and has coped tremendously well so far. It’s very early days in his professional career and Williams may now see his game time reduced slightly as Shaw is match fit once more, but he has more than made his mark and it certainly won’t be the last we hear of the young left back.
Brandon’s stats model will be available following this article. A link will appear here when it is live on our site.
The Stats Scout 