I thought Brandon Williams was Man United’s future despite warnings from inside Carrington. Now, he faces jail and a ruined career but it could have been so different, writes IAN HERBERT

• Ex-United star Brandon Williams faces two years in prison for dangerous driving 
• He was tipped for top of the game but maybe should have followed cousin’s path
• LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Why it makes more sense for Manchester United to sell Marcus Rashford 

By IAN HERBERT

I watched Brandon Williams look like Manchester United’s future left back of choice in a 2-0 win at Burnley, five years ago. 

Spatial awareness, box-to-box running, pointing out to Anthony Martial precisely where he wanted the ball played through to — he had so much. 

Reading back my report, including Williams’ man-of-the-match rating, I see someone had told me that the then 19-year-old needed reining in. 

‘The word from inside Carrington is that his occasional disposition to lose his head on the training pitch needs to be managed,’ I wrote.

Now club-less and with any prospect of an elite career over, after a 99mph high-speed car crash and conviction for dangerous driving, it strikes me that if Williams had gone into the same sport as his cousin Zelfa Barrett, the former super featherweight English boxing champion, then this might have been a different story. 

Brandon Williams looked like a star in the making in a 2-0 win against Burnley five years ago

Williams may have been better off choosing to go into boxing — like his cousin Zelfa Barrett, the former super featherweight English boxing champion

Brandon Williams burst onto the scene at his boyhood club under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Williams is now facing up to two years in jail after pleading guilty to dangerous driving

There’d have been less tolerance in a boxing gym for his preening, self-indulgent Instagram pictures.

But Williams, now 24, is one of those who attract trouble wherever they go. 

In their relentless quest for better value United — and football — should take a harder look at how many kids get too much too soon and their need of the right influences and liaisons when away from football.

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I thought Brandon Williams was Man United’s future despite warnings from inside Carrington. Now, he faces jail and a ruined career but it could have been so different, writes IAN HERBERT

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