Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed that defender Brandon Williams will not leave Manchester United on loan in the January transfer window, despite Newcastle United and Southampton previously expressing an interest in the 20-year-old.

The left-back looked set to leave Old Trafford this winter in order to gain some much-needed experience at the top level, and a deal was believed to be close with the Magpies.

But after Man Utd’s 0-0 draw with Arsenal on Saturday, Solskjaer stated that Williams ‚will stay‘ at the club, while announcing that no other players will be heading out of the exit door in the winter window.

“Brandon [Williams] will stay,“ Solskjaer confirmed.

„He played Under-23s against Liverpool today, he needed match fitness. I don’t have any other players that we think will be going. It’s a relentless season and we go again on Tuesday.”

Williams was part of Man Utd’s crushing victory over Liverpool Under-23s on Saturday, when they romped to a 6-3 win, with new signing Amad Diallo scoring a brace – including a cheeky panenka penalty.

The defender gained some vital match fitness in that win, and he’ll be hoping to have proven his worth to Solskjaer’s first team in the process. Williams fell out of the side towards the end of the 2019/20 campaign, and then dropped even further down the pecking order when Alex Telles joined in the summer from Porto.

Now behind both Telles and Luke Shaw in the race for the starting left-back spot, it appeared that a move to another Premier League club would be his only option to earn some regular playing time, but the Norwegian boss has closed the door on that possibility.

It appears he is wary of injuries leaving them short of quality alternatives across the pitch, so Williams must wait patiently for his chance to arrive, and grab it with both hands if it does.