Man City have identified Branthwaite as their primary defensive target this summer.
Everton are holding firm at £70m with United and Bayern also monitoring the situation.
City’s move hinges on defensive departures – and Everton are in no rush either way.
Let’s be honest. Everton fans have spent years watching the club sell their best players for less than they were worth, to clubs who knew the Toffees needed the money. This summer feels different.
Football Insider reports that Manchester City want Jarrad Branthwaite as the long-term replacement for John Stones, who is expected to leave the Etihad this summer. It’s a decent compliment, when you think about it – City essentially replacing one Everton-developed centre-back with another.
The difference this time is that Everton aren’t blinking. David Moyes, naturally, rates Branthwaite as highly as anyone at the club, and the Toffees are holding firm at a minimum of £70m. Given that he’s 23, left-footed, English and Premier League-proven, that’s not an unreasonable valuation. In the current market, it might even prove conservative.
City aren’t the only ones watching
Sky Sports have confirmed that Manchester United and Bayern Munich are also monitoring the situation. That level of competition gives Everton every reason to stand their ground – there’s no incentive to offer a discount to City when two other major clubs are keeping close tabs.
There is an important caveat, though. City’s interest is understood to be conditional on defensive departures from the Etihad first, with the futures of Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Nathan Ake all uncertain. Until one of those moves, a formal bid looks unlikely.
For Everton, that’s fine. They’re under no pressure to sell.
The Stones irony
There’s a neat storyline sitting underneath all of this. At the same time, Everton are reportedly in advanced talks to bring John Stones back to Merseyside, and Manchester City are trying to replace him with a player Everton developed. Stones left for £47.5m in 2016. Branthwaite, a decade on, would cost nearly double that.
The message from ReadEverton is simple: Branthwaite isn’t going anywhere unless someone pays what he’s worth. For the latest Everton transfer coverage, head to dave.sport.
Who is Jarrad Branthwaite?
Jarrad Branthwaite is a 23-year-old centre-back who joined Everton from Carlisle United in 2020 as a relatively unknown teenager, having come through the Cumbrian club’s academy. Few could have predicted that six years later he’d be attracting interest from Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Manchester United.
Left-footed, physically imposing and composed in possession, he fits the profile of the modern ball-playing defender that elite clubs increasingly prioritise. His ability to carry the ball out from the back and play through pressure makes him particularly suited to a high-pressing, possession-based system – exactly what Manchester City use.
The one concern is his injury record. Branthwaite managed just ten Premier League appearances last season due to persistent hamstring problems, which will inevitably factor into any club’s thinking before committing £70m.