With Celtic’s transfer business looking like it is going to ramp up over the coming days, there is genuine excitement now building with the fans for the new season ahead.
The signing of Viljami Sinisalo has been met with positivity amongst the Celtic fans and a tinge of anger amongst the Aston Villa fans.
The youngster also looks set to be joined by Denmark goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel and Portuguese midfielder, Paulo Bernardo as Brendan Rodgers starts to build his team to defend his SPFL title.
With other positions in the squad requiring strengthening, the Celtic boss will need to get the Parkhead board’s chequebook out to get the necessary quality in to improve what he already has at the club.
Or will he? Sinisalo didn’t break the bank and there is one former Manchester United player available on a free who could give some much-needed competition for Celtic defender, Greg Taylor.
Former Man United fullback Brandon Williams may be a Celtic option
The left-back position has been a problem area for Celtic for a number of seasons now. Greg Taylor has done a great job but the lack of competition and backup for the Scotland fullback has been stark.
Alexandro Bernabei’s signing has been a failure, and no one else at the club is ready to take the step up.
Which is why Brendan Rodgers could look at former Manchester United kid, Brandon Williams.
At 23, Williams has made 51 appearances for the Red Devils which includes games in the Champions League against RB Leipzig and eight appearances in the Europa League against the likes of Sevilla, Real Sociedad and AC Milan.
Williams was also part of the Ipswich Town squad that got promoted to the English Premier League last season making 17 outings of which, he starred in a ten-game run that saw the Tractor Boys win eight. [Transfermarkt]
Brandon Williams’ in-game stats
According to FBref, over the last year, Williams was one of the best attacking defenders when compared to his peers with a passing accuracy of 80.6% and successful dribbles per game at 1.01.
Williams was also one of the best at shooting with 66.7% of his attempts finding the target but one of the poorest in crossing with an average of 0.90 completed per 90 minutes.
However, defensively, Williams was a rock. Averaging 3.14 tackles per game and winning 2.36 of them, the 23-year-old outperformed many of his peers.
He also successfully stopped attackers from dribbling past him 2.81 times and made an average of 1.57 interceptions per 90-minute game.
A stumbling block, however, could be his salary. According to Capology, Williams was earning a cool £65k per week at Old Trafford.
Former Manchester United manager, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer is on record as saying Williams ‘never let him down‘ and tipped Williams to become a ‘top player‘. So it’s clear he was rated by the Norwegian legend.
But now out of contract and still without a club, the lure of playing for Brendan Rodgers and Celtic in the Champions League may well entice the youngster to lower his expectations and make a move to Paradise.
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