Manchester United’s plans under new part, but controlling owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe continue at pace this summer and despite all the distractions of whether or not Erik ten Hag would stay in charge, it appears he will be in the dug out for the 2024/25 campaign.
This means fans of the Red Devil’s can fully turn their attentions to the summer transfer action, and which players will continue to play their part at Old Trafford, and just as importantly which players are now surplus to requirements.
If the rumour mill speculation over the weekend is to be believed, it appears United now have their eyes on talented Everton centre half Jarrad Branthwaite, and if reports are to be believed they have now submitted a formal £35 million offer for the 21 year old, who many thought may be named by Gareth Southgate in his England squad for the European Championships.
The offer is believed to have been rejected by Everton as they have no intention of being cherry picked given their own ownership and financial headaches right now, and although they seem to have an £80 million valuation on his head, they are said to certainly not be open to deals that do not at least start at a baseline of around the £50 million mark.
Everton’s preference is to not sell the player at all, hence the valuation that puts Branthwaite into the Harry Maguire (£80 million) and Josko Gvardiol (£77 million) bracket in their minds, but the potential elephant in the room is that it is also being reported that United have already agreed personal terms with the player.
The details of that supposed agreement have not been released and it has not been confirmed as to whether or not Everton have given their blessing for such talks. But every fan knows that this is underhand and seriously frowned upon in the regulations. Every fan also knows that every single club knows where and how to colour in the lines when they need to, so that it is not technically ‘tapping up’.
However, given that back in May Everton’s director of football Kevin Thelwell specifically stated that players ‘would be sold’ this summer, the educated guess is that Branthwaite knows he has the permission to talk, knows he will be moving this summer, and it is simply a game for Everton to drive the eventual transfer fee up as high as they possibly can before accepting and ensuring that they do not potentially have an unhappy player on their hands.
We will see what the next few months bring, as United will not pay near to £80 million, so a £45/50 million deal seems more likely – which is also believed to be the ballpark Everton are looking for when it comes to 22 year old Belgian international midfielder Amadou Onana, who is equally expected to be off this summer.