Brandon Williams: I started playing just to make up a few; I chose to be loaned to prove myself

29 March – Brandon Williams, a 21-year-old Manchester United left-back who has been loaned to Norwich this season, was recently interviewed by Redknapp Jr. about his childhood, his first loan trip and a few other topics.

Williams: When I was a kid, I didn't really like football, I just wanted to have fun on the playground. Later my father had a friend's son who had a match for fewer people who needed me to make up the numbers. I bought sneakers, leggings, and everything else. Then I went on a game and it turned out I was good in that game and then my heart was touched by football.

Redkolnap: So you're a lifetime of Red Devils?

Williams: The last time we won the league in 2013 I was a season ticket holder! This is my childhood club. I became a left-back in the U18 echelon at the age of 13.

Redknapp: As a right-footer, you're good at breaking through from the flanks and crossing. What made you choose to be a left-back?

Williams: We have three right-backs in the U18 echelon, but only one left-back! I got a chance to fill the left-back gap, and then I kept trying to get myself in that position.

Redknapp: Why did you tell the team to put you on loan this season?

Williams: My first season at Manchester United (19-20) was great. I played 36 games, including 17 Premier League games. Then we went through that suspension. After the start of the new season, Luke Shaw played a phenomenal performance, and Treys also entered the form. I could have stayed and continued training, but I knew I had to go out and prove that I was a qualified Premier League player.

Redknapp: What do you think of this loan?

Williams: It wasn't good in the beginning, I've been at Manchester United since I started playing football and Manchester United is all I know. It's hard to get away from home and come to a new club. Every day when I go in and out of the club, I wonder if it was the right decision. But the arrival of the new coach (Dean Smith) was really a turning point. He helped me a lot with Gilmore (from Chelsea to Norwich on loan). He inspired the best of us.

Redknapp: From trying to win every game at Manchester United to struggling here for relegation, it must have been a big change for you.

Williams: This team also has a lot of top players and we're going to fight to the end. Even in the last game, we will not give up the fight.

Redknapp: Moving is really a big change. I moved to Liverpool at any time of the year 17 and had a very low time, and I mainly missed my mother's cooking! I can imagine how hard it is when you don't have a game to play. But independence also has the advantage of being able to concentrate more.

Williams: There's no doubt about it, my friends are in Manchester, where it's just rigorous training, recovery, eating, sleeping and repeating. Even with eating, I didn't put a lot of thought into it last year, but since I got here, I feel like I've become healthier than ever, and I'm trying to make myself stronger and stronger.

Redknapp: I know you like steals. A lot of modern full-backs are more interested in the front and even annoyed about having to defend, but you like to defend.

Williams: I like to defend. If I make a good steal, it gives me an energy that I can play better in the game, and I need that intensity to stimulate my adrenaline. When I tackle, it also gives energy to the whole team, can drive the people around me, and I really like the feeling.

Redknapp: I haven't heard anyone say that in years, and the last person to say that was Gerald. A steal in your world makes a lot of sense, and if someone sends out a 25-yard pass you can say, "Oh, that's wonderful!" "But if someone wins a five-and-five-bay confrontation and beats the opponent at the same time, the fans will absolutely love it." I'm really glad to hear from you.

Williams: In the home game against Everton in January, our centre-back Grant Hanley made a very important interception, and then we scored two goals in two minutes because that interception gave us energy. The fans don't know how much help they gave us, they're the 12th man on the pitch.

Redknapp: Where did this primitive aggressiveness and desire of yours come from? Did you box like your cousins when you were a kid?

Williams: I won't, but I'll train with them before preseason, and that's a completely different field. It's just yourself and your gloves there, and then concentrate on your opponent until the day of the battle, which is too strict.

Redknapp: Footballers can learn something from training as boxers and I feel like you've brought that to Norwich.

Williams: I spoke to the coach recently and he asked me what I had learned. I said I felt more mature. I now feel like an athlete, a real professional athlete. I intend to bring these back to Manchester in the summer.

Redknapp: No matter what happens to Norwich, you're going to be a Manchester United player again in the summer. They're fighting for the top four right now, do you think they'll be in the top four at the end of the season?

Williams: United should not be in the predicament it is now. I hope they can get into next season's Champions League and United should be there.

Redknapp: You're enjoying the first team game right now. Do you have any other decisions you might have this summer?

Williams: I like that I can play now. I can't wait to be on the pitch right away on the weekend. There's no reason for me to just sit on the bench if I go back to Manchester United. I want to play and after this loan experience I feel like I've prepared better for the Premier League. Whether it's Manchester United or anywhere else, this problem will have to wait until the summer. I still have a lot to do at Norwich.

Redknapp: Don't tell you, I predicted norwich would be relegated this season. Many of us feel that way.

Williams: A lot of people predicted we were relegated because we hadn't won until November. It wasn't the start we wanted. But what matters is the outcome. In this city, you can feel the energy. People believe we can succeed in relegation, and we also try to give them something to celebrate.

（superwise）