This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Oxford United midfielder Cameron Brannagan recently put pen-to-paper on a new contract at the Kassam Stadium despite interest from fellow Championship clubs.

It was reported by Football Insider that the former Liverpool midfielder was a target for both West Brom and Blackburn Rovers, but the influential 28-year-old signed a new long-term deal with The U’s.

Brannagan has been at the club since 2018 and will finally get the chance to play for the club in the Championship, having won promotion via the play-offs in May.

It’s the first time that Oxford have been in the second tier since 1999, and fighting off interest from bigger Championship clubs to keep Brannagan at the club is a huge boost to their survival hopes.

Oxford United keeping Cameron Brannagan deemed a coup

Our Oxford United fan pundit, Andrew Taylor, believes that keeping Brannagan at the club was hugely important as it secures one of The U’s main assets and protects them from losing the midfielder for free next summer.

Speaking to Football League World, Andrew said: “Brannagan is literally Mr Oxford United.

“His loyalty with the club has finally been rewarded with a decent contract and promotion to the Championship, everything he came to the club to achieve.

“He’s very ambitious, and he doesn’t just want to sit in the Championship and say ‘we made it’, he’s that ambitious he believes that with the right investment, Oxford can make the Premier League.

“I’m very, very happy that Cameron Brannagan has signed a new contract and I probably would agree that it’s a very good coup.

“It protects Cameron as an asset if we were to get relegated next season, and he would have been out of contract at the end of the 2024/25 season, so to lose him on a free transfer would have been bad business as a club, but if he decided he wanted to move on to pastures new if we were relegated, we would be looking for a healthy fee.

“It’s good business all round, he’s probably got a bit of a pay rise, and he’s protected as an asset, so it’s very good from a business point of view.”

After playing in League One since joining The U’s in 2018, it would have been a huge blow to lose Brannagan after being promoted to the Championship.

The ex-Liverpool man has probably been capable of playing at Championship level for a number of seasons now, and losing him this summer despite promotion would have stung Oxford, but he’s set to feature prominently for Des Buckingham’s side this season.

It’s no surprise that established second tier clubs like West Brom and Blackburn were interested in him, but Brannagan has shown incredible loyalty throughout the years, and he’ll feel as if that’s been vindicated following their promotion.

The U’s will be looking to prove a few people wrong and stay in the division, but if they were to get relegated, they’d be set to make big money off any sale for Brannagan, and giving him a new contract has benefited both the player and the club.

After six-and-a-half years of League One football and 290 appearances in a yellow shirt, Brannagan will finally get the chance to play in the Championship come the 10th of August, and he’ll be looking to make up for lost time.