Everton keep Manchester United in the dark over Jarrad Branthwaite as cut-price transfer lost
Manchester United still don’t know what price Everton want if they are to sell Jarrad Branthwaite, according to Ben Jacobs.
The journalist told GiveMeSport (3 June) that the potential for a reduced deal on the England defender had been lost after Sean Dyche’s side successfully avoided relegation and the asking price is now the “main” element which remains unclear.
Sky Sports have reported (29 May) that the Toffees must make a sale before 30 June to help balance the books for profit and sustainability purposes, but despite that Jacobs doesn’t expect a resolution on Branthwaite’s future any time soon.
He said: “With Jarrad Brathwaite, the price is going to be the main thing that suitors want to understand, so Manchester United have looked at a range of defenders. Jean-Clair Todibo and Jarrad Branthwaite are two options that have substance to them.
“But with Branthwaite, all suitors, including Manchester United, have been waiting for an indication from Everton as to what the price is.
“And were patiently waiting and quite opportunistically so, when Everton had the points deduction, and when it was clear that Everton were in danger of going down, and at that point, around the mid-season mark or the early part of the year, there was a chance that the price might have been a bit more cut-price.
“But now Everton are safe, and even with their financial situation being a bit up in the air, this might be one that rumbles on a little bit.”
Jarrad Branthwaite could remain at Everton under Sean Dyche
The Independent reported 31 May that the Toffees want a world record fee if they are to consider letting their star defender leave, so if United are in the dark it is probably because there is little real interest at Goodison in selling.
Paul Joyce in The Times (30 May) has named a number of players who Everton would rather let go of than the 21-year-old, who has established himself as a Premier League regular under Sean Dyche and made his Three Lions debut for Gareth Southgate in the 3-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday (3 June).
And the BBC’s Giulia Bould (3 June) insists that thanks to cost-cutting work behind the scenes at the club there will be no fire sale of key players this summer.
As with most clubs the right offer would get the club to consider selling but the indications certainly are that there is little appetite for Branthwaite to be one who leaves.
Despite the increasingly-inevitable end of 777 Partners’ attempted takeover of the club there seems to be some relative calm at Everton after a season of chaos that involved multiple commission hearings and a pair of points deduction alongside the ownership uncertainty.
This being the Toffees that surely won’t last long, and it is unlikely that there will be a huge amount of scope to make signings this summer.
But fears that the club would be unable to resist approaches for all their big names may at least not be realised thanks to Dyche navigating clear of relegation with games to spare, despite the loss of eight points for spending breaches.
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