Manchester United have confirmed that Brandon Williams was unavailable for England Under-21 selection due to a foot injury.
The 19-year-old left-back would have had a good chance of featuring in Aidy Boothroyd's Three Lions squad for the European Championship qualifiers against Kosovo and Austria. He may even have been considered by Gareth Southgate for a debut senior international call-up, with England struggling for left-back options.
But Williams, like his United and England counterpart Luke Shaw, is struggling with an injury at the moment. The Harpurhey-born academy product will hope to regain in fitness in time for United's Premier League opener at Crystal Palace on 19th September.
Williams has not featured at Under-21 level for England before, with his most recent international appearances coming for the England U20s.
The 2019/20 campaign was a breakthrough season for the full-back, who made his senior debut under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before establishing himself as a regular in the first-team squad. He played 36 times in total and scored one goal, against Sheffield United.
Solskjaer lauded Williams' superb mentality when talking about the youngster in July, as a huge factor behind his emergence.
"Your temperament and your mental preparation, how you approach the game, is vital. And when you’re Brandon, when you’re Mason – when you’re one of the young kids who have come through this academy – they have no fear," said Solskjaer.
"They know what we want from our players. We want them to express their talents, we want them to take risks, we want them to play with... a pair of plums, to put it that way. We just trust them to do that."
