Notts County head coach Luke Williams breaks silence on Oxford United speculation | OneFootball

It has been over a week now since Oxford United lost head coach Liam Manning after just eight months in charge, with the 38-year-old opting to move up the English footballing pyramid to Championship outfit Bristol City.

Manning left the U's in the promising position of second in the League One table, and despite having an exciting, attacking squad on the books, it was not enough to keep him at the Kassam Stadium.

The United hierarchy must now look for Manning's replacement, and on Monday afternoon it was reported by Football Insider that highly-rated Notts County boss Luke Williams was in advanced talks to make the move from the Magpies.

It came after ex-County attacking midfielder Ruben Rodrigues, fresh off his brace for Oxford in a 3-2 win over Leyton Orient, revealed that he would love his former head coach to take over from Manning, and if the report was to be believed then the Portuguese maestro may be getting his wish.

Notts County, Oxford and Williams had been silent, but Williams himself has now spoken out on the reports of his potential exit.

What has Luke Williams said amid Oxford County job speculation?

Despite the reports of Williams reportedly being in advanced negotiations to join the League One promotion hopefuls, the County head coach himself has moved to refute those rumours.

As per ITV Central reporter Mark Kielesz-Levine, Williams has confirmed that there has been no approach made by Oxford to speak to him, and he has also reiterated that there is more to achieve at Meadow Lane with the Magpies.

That of course does not mean that Williams will not be approached about the job at all, but at this time it looks very unlikely that the 42-year-old will be jumping ship to the Kassam Stadium.

Where will Oxford United turn to to replace Liam Manning?

With Williams seemingly not a live target considering he hasn't been approached, Oxford will be looking elsewhere and you'd imagine it would be someone in the mould of Manning to follow on from his work - that is a young coach who likes to play football on the floor and progressively.

The ideal candidate you'd imagine would be Oxford-born Des Buckingham, who is a former first-team coach at the U's and is currently manager of Mumbai City in India - a club who are part of the City Football Group which of course includes Premier League champions Man City.

Buckingham though could be pricey to get out of his contract with the City Group, but a return to his home town and a club he worked at for a long time to try and lead them to the Championship would surely be tempting.

The reality though is that realistic names and perfect fits that have been linked to the vacancy are sparse, and Williams of course was one of them, so it remains to be seen who the Oxford board make their first-choice target.