New Everton contract talks with Jarrad Branthwaite, first reported by the ECHO, are understood to be advancing
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - MAY 18: Everton's Jarrad Branthwaite thanks the fans after the Premier League match between Everton and Southampton at Goodison Park on May 18, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images)
Jarrad Branthwaite thanks Everton fans after the final game of the season
(Image: Alex Dodd - CameraSport via Getty Images)
Talks between Everton and Jarrad Branthwaite are understood to be progressing well. There are hopes an agreement will soon be reached.
The club opened talks with the centre-back earlier this month as part of efforts to fend off interest in him and in order to better reflect his importance to the squad. A deal has not yet been signed off but discussions are understood to have advanced.
Should the 23-year-old agree fresh terms it would be a significant boost for Everton ahead of the first season in the club’s new stadium. Keeping hold of the starlet, who manager David Moyes hopes to build his new squad around, had been identified as one of the main objectives of a busy summer.
The Blues were braced for interest in Branthwaite for a second consecutive summer. The club rejected bids from Manchester United 12 months ago, dismissing the offers - the latter of which reached around £50m - as derisory for a player who had emerged as a standout talent in his breakthrough season in the club's first team.
He has attracted interest from Champions League clubs in England and elsewhere in Europe, with Tottenham Hotspur among those tracking the defender, who overcame injury to play a big role in Everton’s strong defensive record last season.
That influence was pivotal to the form that carried the Blues to mid-table under Moyes and the manager was intent on shaping his future squad around the defensive core of Branthwaite, James Tarkowski and Jordan Pickford.
The strength of the desire to keep hold of Branthwaite is understood to have been key to deliberations, with the player content at the club and appreciative of the chances he has been given to develop into a Premier League player with 75 appearances in the top flight.
There was an understanding on both sides a new deal was necessary should the club continue to place such high value on his role in the squad.
While Branthwaite is under contract until 2027, and there is a club option for a further 12 months, the current terms were agreed when he had just broken into the first team.
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The ECHO reported that talks along those lines had begun earlier this month and the understanding is that they are progressing positively.