The Blues boss had considered involving Branthwaite in the party that travelled to the Etihad on Saturday. When they left that evening, there were still staff unaware of the brutal setback
Jarrad Branthwaite was edging closer to a return
Jarrad Branthwaite was edging closer to a return
View Image
Jarrad Branthwaite’s latest setback is a cruel blow for Everton - with the centre-back so close to making his return that plans for his comeback were well advanced. Having not played a second in the opening two months of the campaign, it was always unlikely he would be thrown into a duel with Manchester City and in-form Erling Haaland for his first test after recovering from a hamstring injury picked up around the final game of pre-season against Roma.
But genuine consideration was being given to when he could return after a positive international break. “He is back out in the grass and he'll be close for this week,” David Moyes said after the cameras stopped filming following the first part of his pre-City press conference on Friday morning.
Later that day, the club released images of the 23-year-old in full training from the previous day, Thursday.
It is clear everyone was gearing up for the return of the player Moyes placed at the heart of his summer rebuild. Instead Everton, a club that has become familiar with fate painfully twisting against them across recent, traumatic years, once again must deal with a hammer blow that threatens to undermine their plans for progress.
At the heart of it all is a young player who was set to become a talisman in an historic season for the club that made him the centrepiece of the transition towards the bright, promising future it is hoped the move to Hill Dickinson Stadium and everything that comes with it will bring. His personal hopes of challenging for England’s World Cup squad next summer - a target that was within his reach had he struck form this season - now look distant.
There is a belief around Branthwaite that he will do what he has previously done when injury has struck. While the latest hamstring setback has left him devastated, there is already determination to recover and do everything in his power to come back as strong as possible, as quickly as possible. This is not his first period of absence and he recovered from missing all of last summer and the opening months of that season to become a leading figure in one of the best defences in the Premier League.
The recurrence of his injuries has weighed on Moyes’ mind and he ended the transfer window by exploring whether another defender might be needed amid the failure to secure a new right back and with James Tarkowski, Vitalii Mykolenko and Branthwaite each having faced fitness problems through the summer.
But there has been hope that Branthwaite’s issues - this is the third blow to the same hamstring - were development-related rather than hints of a deeper problem. Moyes said: “He's a tall, lean boy, 22, I don’t know if he just, and I don't mean develop, but certainly his limbs and everything are still getting to the point where they should be. That might be some of the reasons for it.”
Branthwaite’s setback has hurt Moyes. Everton have started the season well, managing the move to the Merseyside waterfront and the huge squad overhaul of the summer with greater deft than expected. The Scot’s insistence there was no disappointment as he left the Etihad following the 2-0 defeat on Saturday was justified. His side went toe-to-toe with one of the best sides in the world, while they were in form, for an hour and had the chances to leave with a better result.
There was also recognition that the failure to take those opportunities was symbolic of where the team is right now - making strides forward but still some way from the polished teams they are attempting to catch. Beto is appreciated at Finch Farm and he has shown he can score goals in the top flight but the difference in ruthlessness between him and match-winner Haaland highlighted the size of the gap Moyes wants to bridge.
One of the positive aspects of the visible limitations displayed by the Blues squad was that some of the answers lay within the group - one of them being Branthwaite. Michael Keane, the main beneficiary of the former Carlisle man’s absence has been Everton’s best defender this season and has barely placed a foot wrong, vindicating Moyes’ call to rubber stamp his contract extension in the summer.
Yet Branthwaite’s stature and pace provides a different dynamic at the back for Moyes, one that allows the structure of the team to become more coherent and for Everton to be better-suited at dealing with the transitions in play that have left them vulnerable at times, including for City’s second half opener.
Moyes was already looking towards the return of his prowess, which was key to the impressive form that followed the manager’s comeback in January and why he made securing a new long-term contract for Branthwaite the centrepoint of his summer ambitions.
Moyes said on Friday: “The thing that you mustn't forget about Jarrad is his ability on the ball, his pace, his stature. He is a left-footed centre-back and I think that he's hugely important to the future of Everton and where we go forward and how we build and that's the way I saw it in the summer.
“I didn't want to sign another player before I signed Jarrad. I felt Jarrad had to be [the priority], and I think for Evertonians as well, I think they probably recognised the ability he's got. There were a lot of suitors who wanted him. So we had to fight to make sure that we kept him. I do agree that we're missing him because of his injuries.”
Everton launch kit and merch sale
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
Content Image
Content Image