Championship duo Nottingham Forest and Queens Park Rangers were linked with Exeter City’s Randell Williams.
Randell Williams will be playing at a much higher level next season – with or without Exeter City.
As it stands, the Grecians are third in the League Two table, two points off the top, with promotion in their sights. But even if the unthinkable happens and Exeter suffer something of a springtime collapse, their sprightly, pony-tailed playmaker is very unlikely to be running full-backs ragged in the third tier by the time 2020/21 kicks off.
Williams has already been linked with a host of Championship clubs. TEAMtalk claimed in the Autumn that Nottingham Forest, QPR, Huddersfield Town and Cardiff City were all sending scouts to St James’ Park to watch him in action.
And, after taking his tally to 13 assists for the season during Exeter’s 1-1 draw with Crawley Town on Saturday, a man who failed to make the grade at Watford and Crystal Palace will be heading back up the Football League before you know it.
Only Crewe Alexandra’s Charlie Kirk has more assists to his name than Williams in League Two while no one in the Championship, including Forest star Joe Lolley and QPR talisman Eberechi Eze, can match his impressive personal tally.
And, given that Nottingham Forest are at their best when soaking up the pressure and hitting teams on the counter-attack, Williams looks a perfect fit for Sabri Lamouchi’s rather reactive tactics.
QPR and Huddersfield, meanwhile, could have two enigmatic wingers in need of replacing at the end of the season with Bright Osayi-Samuel likely to attract plenty of interest while Emile Smith-Rowe returns to parent club Arsenal.
Exeter then will be under no illusions that if that want to keep hold of Williams, promotion is non-negotiable.
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