{"id":575485,"date":"2020-12-22T10:18:59","date_gmt":"2020-12-22T15:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=575485"},"modified":"2020-12-22T10:18:59","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T15:18:59","slug":"bayer-leverkusen-manchester-united-brandon-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/12\/22\/bayer-leverkusen-manchester-united-brandon-williams\/","title":{"rendered":"REPORT: Bayer Leverkusen Join Southampton in Chase for Manchester United Defender Brandon Williams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen have made contact with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/clubs\/manchester-united\/\" target=\"_self\">Manchester United<\/a> over a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/football-transfer-news\/\" target=\"_self\">permanent deal<\/a> for <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/5e74d6c8\/Brandon-Williams?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brandon Williams<\/a>, according to Lyall Thomas of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/transfer-centre\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sky Sports<\/a>. The German club want Williams as cover for the injured <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=fdd60087,c79b66ac&amp;search=Santiago+Arias&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Santiago Arias<\/a>, who suffered a broken leg on international duty having only joined in the summer.<\/p>\n<h2>Bayer Leverkusen Join Southampton in Chase for Manchester United Defender Brandon Williams<\/h2>\n<h3>Leverkusen Want Permanent Deal<\/h3>\n<p>Previous rumours surrounding Williams have all suggested any move away from United would only be on loan. That is still what United would prefer and it&#8217;s reported that they will only entertain offers that are loan deals.<\/p>\n<p>Williams, 20, has also <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/11\/23\/brandon-williams-on-southampton-radar-again\/\" target=\"_self\">attracted interest<\/a> from Southampton in recent months, which could prove to be a more popular option with both him and United.<\/p>\n<p>The youngster, who can play at both right-back and left-back, only <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/08\/04\/brandon-williams-signs-new-contract-at-manchester-united\/\" target=\"_self\">signed a new deal<\/a> with the Red Devils in August, which could be why they appear reluctant to let him go on a permanent deal.<\/p>\n<p>Williams would not be the only young English player plying their trade in the Bundesliga, with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/clubs\/tottenham\/\" target=\"_self\">Tottenham Hotspur&#8217;s <\/a>Ryan Sessegnon currently on loan at Hoffenheim and <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/2c0558b8\/Jamal-Musiala?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jamal Musiala<\/a> making waves at <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/clubs\/bayern-munich\/\" target=\"_self\">Bayern Munich<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Struggles This Season<\/h3>\n<p>Last season, it appeared that Brandon Williams had fully broken through into the first-team at Manchester United. He made 36 appearances in all competitions and scored his first professional goal in the 3-3 draw away at <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/clubs\/sheffield-united-club-news-analysis-fixtures\/\" target=\"_self\">Sheffield United<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This season, though, Williams has found game time hard to come by. The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/10\/05\/manchester-united-complete-signing-of-alex-telles-from-porto\/\" target=\"_self\">signing<\/a> of <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/e73c9bb2\/Alex-Telles?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Telles<\/a> in the summer and <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/9c94165b\/Luke-Shaw?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luke Shaw<\/a>&#8216;s performances at left-back have kept him out of that position, while <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/9e525177\/Aaron-Wan-Bissaka?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aaron Wan-Bissaka<\/a> is a mainstay at right-back, with the likes of <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/a9142dc3\/Timothy-Fosu-Mensah?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Timothy Fosu-Mensah<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/2baec6ce\/Axel-Tuanzebe?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Axel Tuanzebe<\/a> able to cover.<\/p>\n<p>Williams has, so far, made just five appearances in all competitions, one of which was as a substitute in the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"somhdpP2RCd8WLg495vtbQ\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1288466347\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'somhdpP2RCd8WLg495vtbQ',sig:'1jIXyI42GCTWMUZk8R_MEW5AUUlN7-4SjSEZTqzHiJw=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1288466347',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen have made contact with Manchester United over a permanent deal for Brandon Williams, according to Lyall Thomas of Sky Sports. The German club want Williams as cover for the injured Santiago Arias, who suffered a broken leg on international duty having only joined in the summer. Bayer Leverkusen Join Southampton in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1144,"featured_media":575486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2,18,30,3,7188,20,28],"tags":[361,4347,51,1297,36,40,235,1180,136],"class_list":["post-575485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bundesliga","category-featured","category-manchester-united","category-news","category-premier-league","category-rumours","category-southampton","category-transfers","tag-bayer-leverkusen","tag-brandon-williams","tag-bundesliga","tag-football-transfer-news","tag-manchester-united","tag-premier-league","tag-southampton","tag-transfer-rumours","tag-world-football"],"modified_by":"Nat Goodlad, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}