Ex-Man Utd star Brandon Williams faces two years in jail for dangerous driving

Former Manchester United defender Brandon Williams is facing up to two years in jail after previously being tipped for stardom.

Williams, 24, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving last week after crashing his car at 99mph 'with a balloon in his mouth' while accompanied by a young woman in August 2023.

He is set to learn his fate when he is sentenced next month, and could be sent to prison, which would be a significant setback for his plans to resurrect his football career.

Williams was released by United last summer, but it had all started so brightly for him at his boyhood club.

The full back burst onto the scene in the early stages of the 2019-20 season when he made his debut for United as a teenager.

Within weeks, he had caught the eye of one of United's greatest ever full backs, Gary Neville.

Famed for his never-say-die attitude on the pitch, Neville liked Williams' tenacity in his opening season, and even joked about how far the youngster would go to win.

After Williams starred in United's 1-0 FA Cup win over Wolves in January 2020, Neville wrote on Twitter: 'I like Brandon Williams. What I like about him specifically is he has that look in his eye of someone that would eat his opponents nose to win the match. Keep going kid! Oh, he can play football too which is always a bonus.'

Williams did kick on in the latter half of the season, keeping the much more experienced Luke Shaw out of the team as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer put his faith in him.

It didn't take long for then-England boss Gareth Southgate to sit up and take notice, as he reportedly eyed Williams for a potential spot in his Euros squad the following year.

However, the 2020-21 season didn't go to plan as Williams lost his United place to Shaw and struggled with injury setbacks.

He failed to break into the England squad, and subsequently missed out on the Euros as the Three Lions went all the way to the final before losing to Italy on penalties.

Williams was shipped out on loan to Norwich ahead of the 2021-22 season and played regularly, but the Canaries were relegated from the Premier League, and when he returned to United the following year he was some way down the pecking order.

A frustrating 12 months followed, before Williams came back into the spotlight when he called out United legend Rio Ferdinand after Manchester City won the Treble.

Williams was seemingly unimpressed with City completing the feat 24 years after United, and then took aim at Ferdinand for praising Pep Guardiola's side.

'Nobody wants a sloppy seconds,' Williams posted on his Instagram Story.

He then tagged Ferdinand in a post that read: '@rioferdy5 Bet you don't congratulate if you was [sic] player keeep [sic] the same morals. [Snoozing face emoji] too [sic] face is boring.'

Williams dropped down to the Championship last season and helped Ipswich gain promotion to the top flight, but he did not make a single squad after New Year's Day.

His time at United came to an end last summer, and now he faces an anxious wait to see if he will be sent to prison after a dramatic fall from grace.