The narrative around Everton’s summer will almost certainly be dominated more by who they might lose rather than who could come in.
That is just the nature of the club at the moment, constantly scrambling to find the required funds to stay afloat without seeing their entire squad ravaged.
However, with an asset as revered as Jarrad Branthwaite on their books, such a notion was only set to be emphasised further.
That being said, Manchester United’s Branthwaite bid has already caused an uproar with the insulting nature of the fee.
This, unfortunately, is just the beginning of their onslaught though.
Manchester United threaten Everton over Jarrad Branthwaite
The latest on their pursuit of the 21-year-old defender comes courtesy of The Mirror, who actually outline a fresh threat that Manchester United have made to Everton in their efforts to strike up a deal.
It is clear that the main bargaining position that the interested party has taken up is born of PSR’s strict regulations, which are threatening to thwart the Toffees once again.
But they cannot allow this to be the main driving force behind their sale, despite what has just been said.
The report reads: ‘Manchester United will threaten to walk away from a deal for Jarrad Branthwaite after Everton rejected their opening bid worth £43million including add-ons. United’s proposal was worth an initial £35m plus £8m in ‘easily-achievable’ add-ons.
‘While they are poised to return to the table with an improved offer, they have no intention of matching Everton’s sky-high £70m asking price and will inform the Toffees of their willingness to move onto alternative targets if an agreement cannot be struck on what they consider to be realistic terms.’
Jarrad Branthwaite is worth so much
£80m for Harry Maguire. £75m for Wesley Fofana. Marc Cucurella for £63m. This is just a brief selection of the lofty figures that far inferior defenders to Branthwaite have commanded in recent years.
And yet, The Red Devils still saw fit to bid a pitiful £35m initial sum for his services.
This is one of the outstanding young players in the Premier League, who is not only a leader in his field already, but also left-footed and an England international.
There are so many factors contributing to a price tag that deserves to be over double what they offered, and therefore the Toffees cannot be bullied into anything less than that.
Especially when combing over those aforementioned examples, which Sean Dyche and Kevin Thelwell will be reiterating to Manchester United after their laughable first foray into the summer market.
Despite the June 30th PSR deadline looming, this cannot dominate Everton’s thinking. They need to remain patient in their demands, and not allow one of the Premier League’s big clubs to push them around because of a set of rules that have caused so much unrest in recent years.
If anything, these statutes should see them lobby for an astronomical fee, to truly put them in the clear.
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