Finding solutions from within the Manchester United academy is a rich tradition at the club.
Almost every manager to come through the club has had a handful of academy players come through under their management.
Sir Alex Ferguson most notably had the Class of ’92, which included names who went on to become legends of the club like Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Gary Neville.
More recently Louis van Gaal promoted Marcus Rashford, Jose Mourinho had Scott McTominay and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had Mason Greenwood. Erik ten Hag brought through Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo and now Ruben Amorim has also been following the tradition.
Chido Obi has emerged as a superstar for United under Amorim already, while several others are now regularly on the bench, looking likely to be given a chance at some point to join the list of academy graduates.
Now, one academy graduate has admitted that his debut came around thanks to a Patrice Evra endorsement.
Photo by Candice Ward/Getty Images
Photo by Candice Ward/Getty Images
Patrice Evra told Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to play Brandon Williams
One of Solskjaer’s graduates was left-back Brandon Williams, who has been without a club since United released him last summer. Now, speaking on the More Than A Match podcast, revealing that he got his United debut due to Evra recommending him to Solskjaer.
“We ended up winning that game 2-0, and then Patrice Evra who was starting coaching at United, getting his badges, he was speaking to me, ‘I’ve watched you, this and that, I really like you’, anyway I found out he spoke to Ole and he was like ‘you’ve got to give this kid a chance’.
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“Then in September they told me I was training with the first team, I didn’t expect anything I’d done it a couple of times, trained with them, and then got a text ‘your in the squad tomorrow’.”
Williams’ debut came when he was just 19, in a League Cup clash with Stockport which went to penalties.
How many games did Brandon Williams play for Manchester United?
Despite having a quick start to his career at United, Williams spent seasons on loan at Norwich and then-Championship side Ipswich Town.
Williams played 51 games for United’s first-team, with one goal and one assist in this time. This is better than a lot of academy graduates manage, but largely due to off-the-pitch issues, Williams has been without a club this season.
Williams stats for Manchester United
Club Appearances Goals Assists
Manchester United 51 1 1
After Williams made his full United debut in the Europa League, his manager at the time, Solskjaer, was full of praise for his performance.
“The performance and debut of Brandon, was fantastic. You can’t see any nerves, he’s so brave, the courage to take the ball and go forward. Great defending, very pleased, some big, big pluses today.”
It is disappointing to see how his career has gone so far, but aged just 24, he has time to turn it around.