CAMERON Brannagan can see himself living in Oxfordshire for the rest of his life, reaffirming how settled he is at Oxford United.

The 28-year-old midfielder joined the U’s from Liverpool for an undisclosed fee in January 2018, and this summer, he signed a new long-term deal with the club.

Brannagan, who has made 296 appearances for United and scored 55 goals, sees his future in Oxfordshire, not just for his playing career, but once he retires from being a professional footballer too.

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He told BBC Radio Oxford’s The Dub podcast: “I’ve said this to many a people close to me, but this will be me for the rest of my life to be honest.

“I’ll live down here for the rest of my life. I won’t ever move back now, I’ll be very surprised if I do.

“This is where my home is now, and I’m more than happy here. I love the place, and I’ve said it many a time, I love the people, and my life is probably here now in Oxfordshire.

“When I first signed, I probably would disagree and say there’s never in a million years I’d be living here and staying here because I didn’t enjoy it at first.

“I missed home, and I missed family and friends, and I was here on my own at the time, so that was a big factor in it, and I was travelling quite a bit.

“You can’t get me back home now though, and I’m always here. I love the place.”

A further pull to the county is the Cam Brannagan Football Academy, which he launched alongside Simon Eastwood in July 2023.

It offers weekly coaching across five county locations for children aged between six and 14.

Brannagan said: “There’s no place I see me being apart from here. This is where I want to be and this is where my life is.

“This is where I see myself for the rest of my life, never mind the next couple of years.

“Doing the academy for the children round here has been a big factor for me. Easty doing it with me has been a massive help.

“We didn’t quite expect it to go the way it has to be quite honest. It just came from a conversation in the car, and then it was a case of opening the first one, and we’re at five now at five different venues, with just shy of 300 kids.

“It’s been a crazy first year doing it, and people have come in to help us, and it’s been great.

“We’ve got many other ideas that we want to do, and make it even better, and give that opportunity to the kids.”