Teenage defender Oludare Olufunwa is training with Southampton’s first team as Ralph Hasenhuttl steps up his preparations for the forthcoming Premier League season, as reported by Hampshire Live.
Is this the clearest sign yet that Brandon Williams won’t be a Saints player by the time September rolls around?
According to The Athletic, Southampton’s long-running pursuit of the England U21 full-back has hit the buffers with Manchester United demanding a £2 million loan fee.
That’s without mentioning the fact Williams takes home an eye-watering £65,000 a week – a sum that would see a 20-year-old loanee become the club’s third-highest earner behind exit-linked duo Danny Ings and Fraser Forster.
So who can blame Southampton for looking closer to home for a full-back capable of providing competition in the wide areas? It’s not as though their academy has let them down before, either.
Have Southampton found a Brandon Williams alternative in Olufunwa?
You’d imagine Williams would have arrived expecting regular first-team football – something Hasenhuttl would be in no position to guarantee.
19-year-old Olufunwa, however, would probably welcome a role on the bench, especially when you consider he has yet to make his debut at senior level.
Hasenhuttl has been putting Olufunwa through his paces alongside the likes of Che Adams, Stuart Armstrong and Oriol Romeu as Southampton prepare for a new season that’s just a few weeks away.
It seems the teenager is in a strong position to fight for a place in Hasenhuttl’s plans then, although it must be said Williams isn’t the only right-back on the club’s radar.
Southampton are also keen on Chelsea’s 2021 academy player of the year Tino Livramento.
He is rumoured to be unwilling to sign a new contract at Stamford Bridge and has been left out of the club’s pre-season plans.
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