Brandon Williams of Manchester United has to be one of the most linked players to Southampton than any other player, he has been rumoured to be on our radar for the last 18 months and now it seems he still is.

Saints according to the rumour mill are chasing full backs this summer, this is despite having five already at the club covering the two positions.

But the media still think we are after a sixth and after missing out on Neco Williams who has now signed permanently for Nottingham Forest, we are again linked with another full back, only this one isn't a new name.

Manchester United's Brandon Williams was heavily tipped to join Saints a year ago on loan, but Saints opted instead to sign Romain Perraud and supplement him with Thierry Small from Everton.

Williams eventually went to Norwich on a season long loan with a week left in the summer window last year, he joined a struggling club and his year at Carrow Road although not a disaster was not an outstanding success, he started just 23 Premier League games for the Canaries plus another 3 off the bench and was also an unused sub on another 6 occasions.

He was a regular but not a nailed on name on the team sheet.

Now he is being linked with a move to St Mary's again and with two years on his contract United may be looking to shift him permanently rather than just a loan move.

He is turning 22 in September, he is moving from that promising youngster age towards where he should be playing regularly for his club, having not taken Norwich by storm, United may feel that he is not going to make it at Old Trafford to the level they want if they are to pull themselves out of a decade of underachievement since Sir Alex Ferguson left.

So it seems that he is being touted around again by both United and his agent and the easiest link in the Premier League is Southampton.

But do Saints need him, the most obvious answer to that is no, we are top heavy on full backs, but it is not quite as simple as that, one Tino Livaramento is out injured to the New Year, a second in Yan Valery is in the final year of his contract, Thierry Small is still only in his teens and Romain Perraud is competent, but in truth a good squad player rather than a truly class Premier League standard left back.

So it could be said that we are not as strong in this department as it first looks, at least not until January when hopefully Livramento returns.

So bringing Brandon Williams to St Mary's might not look quite as far fetched as it might seem.

Saints could be interested in either a loan or a permanent deal, the loan would be the obvious one, he would plug a gap at left back and allow KWP to operate on the right, but a permanent deal might also interest Saints, his value is said to be around £9 million, if we could get him for that it would be a shrewd signing, fans might not want to hear it, but this is the strategy of the club, get in youngsters cheaply develop them and move them on, next summer we might well be looking to sell one of KWP or Livramento, obviously we would like to keep them both, but neither would want to play out of position as it would affect their England chances and it would be a luxury that we could not afford two England quality right backs.

So I am not going to write Brandon Williams off out of hand, it might well be on the cards and at the right price our new owners might see it as a good investment rather than a signing desperately needed.

Photo: Action Images

WestSussexSaint added 09:48 - Jul 12 Bit like the last story on Winks. Adding to that position is not a priority and the player doesn’t leap out as being better than what we have so why sign him.
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Block8 added 10:15 - Jul 12 First I think Perraud is a good defender who will only get better and secondly, unless we are going to shift a full back we don't need one. Promising is what the B team is for! Also the buy them young develop them and move them on system has not been too successful of late, Alex Gunn big loss, Djenepo & Diallo we'd take a big hit to shift either of them! Yet we face losing our own promising youngsters, for example Kami Doyle and Tyler Dibling to the likes of Newcastle. We are not showing a door to our own kids whilst gambling quite big sums on others? I don't really see that as a way forward, I appreciate it is a gamble putting any youngsters in a premiership team, particularly a struggling one but if we don't reward our own and spend millions on other (untried or tested players) it's pointless us having an academy?

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Jesus_02 added 11:31 - Jul 12 Perraud is decent in my view and only 24 himself. Personally I think what we are missing at the back is maturity. Despite have in half a team worth of subs next season we can still only field 11 at a time. Even if we get Williams for 10m . Its still a combine cost of 20m. We can expect one "prospect" to fade away due to lack of game time, that means that to recoup transfer fees the other needs to double in value. That before we consider Small who cost around £5m and is still to make an appearance.

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DellBoyWally added 11:49 - Jul 12 I think we should be playing Peraud and Diallo more. As for KWP being at LB I think emotion overtook fact. The number of times teams - even poor teams like Norwich and Everton - used right wing attacks against Saints. They too often played through KWP who was left floundering and Sali was left exposed. The same happened to Livra on the right. I remember Coventry City's LW spinning Livra twice then rounding him to cross. Twice! Livra hadn't a clue. Play KWP in his natural position; shift Livra forward as an attacking wb which is where he is going to finish up anyway. Play Peraud at LB Get our star youngsters signed up to decent long-term contracts, get them in the squad and play them. They can be late subs when we're 3 or 4 up (did I just say that???!!!) and form the spine for our cup runs. (I did it again!!) AS B8 says there are clubs sniffing around, Do we really want to be buying-in prospects when we have our own? Or are we setting up to do a Brentford and get rid of the Academy?? It's something for which we were, and could be again, world renown. But maybe it doesn't fit in with the financial model the new owners (or one especially!) are building Oh yeah, Brandon Williams!! I don't rate him. Nowhere near Romain Peraud. And do we want to sign other's cast-offs? We have been doing well seducing "star" young players who are hungry and have given up on breaking through at their top 6 clubs; do we really want to start getting players that top 10 clubs are trying to offload? (Good dig at Manure there!! LoL) Seems at though Sky Sports News is to be renamed Manchester United Channel with guest star Lewis Hamilton!!!

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underweststand added 12:08 - Jul 12 Didn't over impress in his loan spell at Norwich. Maybe he didn't like being on loan but (like Winks) is probably on a high salary level that isn't convincing enough to Saints thinking. Must be hungrier and more talented FBs around.
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TimSaint added 12:10 - Jul 12 Block 8 - I think you mean Angus Gunn, not Alex ? Jesus 02 - Perhaps the fact that Small played badly in that 1st half appearance against Cov in the FA Cup, proved he is not a ready deputy yet and has forced us to look elsewhere ? As for Williams, I got the impression he didn't want to join us last season, as he thought he was too good for us and didn't want to belittle himself playing for us - but then the lack of other offers meant he ended up going to Norwich (!!) and getting relegated !! You had your chance, so no thanks !! Perraud and KWP will be first choice Full Backs for the start of the season - but we have plenty who have/can deputise at FB or Wing Back if and when needed !! We have brought in players in goal, defence and midfield, so can we please now focus on Strikers !!

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IanRC added 16:24 - Jul 12 Just praying we hang on to KWP.
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Block8 added 16:48 - Jul 12 TimSaint and I can't even blame spellcheck :)
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LoisDeem added 10:50 - Jul 13 Would it be fair to say that Saints policy of pursuing and signing right backs of the utmost quality (as KWP and Tino) is an unbalanced (literally) and slightly flawed policy for the future, or just another example of our overt 'grooming stable' mentality?
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