The £70m star player Everton should sell to pave the way for a summer rebuildplaceholder image
The £70m star player Everton should sell to pave the way for a summer rebuild | AFP via Getty Images
Everton have a lot of work to do in the summer transfer market - could selling a key defender help them out?
Everton’s progress under David Moyes and their new owners has been steady rather than spectacular so far, and while they seem set to steer clear of a relegation battle, recent results have made it clear that there is rather more work to be done. A busy summer is in order if the club wants to make significant strides up the Premier League table.
With the club still navigating its way through the financial problems left behind by previous owner Farhad Moshiri, the likelihood is that Everton won’t have enormous amounts to spend in the next transfer window – unless they sell some players first. And one player in particular could be worth listening to offers for…
Why Everton should consider selling Jarrad Branthwaite
For a club which hasn’t produced enough young talent in recent years, selling Branthwaite would be a painful prospect. The 23-year-old is one of the great success stories of one of the league’s less productive academies, and a centre-back blessed with immense talent.
Potent in the air and increasing comfortable with the ball at his feet while possessed of a strong innate positional sense, Branthwaite would normally be the kind of player that a club would build their future around, and their intention to do just that when they tied the defender down to a new five-year contract last July. But given everything that’s happened since, a rethink may not be such a bad idea.
Branthwaite has only just returned to first-team action after missing the entire first half of the season with a serious hamstring injury, and that issue follows a 2024/25 campaign in which the towering defender missed 20 matches with a recurring groin complaint. Branthwaite’s fitness is fast becoming a rather serious cause for concern.
It’s rather difficult to build a team around a player’s talents if they aren’t available – and that forms the basis of an argument for negotiating a sale while his value remains high. Another serious injury or two, and suitors will start to be put off offering a large fee. Everton would have to supremely confident that his injury woes are in the past to reject any sizeable bids that are forthcoming this summer.
If he can stay fit and play at his best over the coming few months, those bids will be forthcoming. Branthwaite has been on the shortlists of many elite sides in recent years, and this could be the best possible time to cash in – and to earn the kind of fee that can help Everton build a better side for years to come.
Branthwaite could be worth £70m – and that’s a price worth selling for
Over the summer, Manchester United expressed an interest in Branthwaite but their reported maximum bid of around £50m in total was flatly rejected, and rightly so. Everton were reportedly holding out for at least £70m.
If an offer of that magnitude comes in, it would give Everton the funds to sign a replacement and have change to address other areas of concern. The defence needs both strength and depth, with Moyes’ resources stretched thin for most of the season so far. Selling a player like Branthwaite at peak value makes sense in that context – and even more sense if his injury-proneness suggests that he could find his value diminished in the future.
Between his potential and his long-term contract, Branthwaite is worth a small fortune now but that will change if he spends much more time on the treatment table. Keeping him is now perhaps a bigger risk than selling him and hoping to replace him adequately.
Bournemouth provide a model for a club who can consistently sell their best players for significant profits without diminishing the strength of their playing squad – only just this winter, they sold Antoine Semenyo for £65m, signed Rayan for £25m to replace him, and watched the Brazilian score two goals and provide an assist in his first three matches. There are always ways to turn a big sale into a strong replacement and a healthy profit if the scouting is good enough.
Few would blame Everton for battling tooth and claw to keep Branthwaite around, but they would be taking a chance – and until they get past the financial armlock they find themselves in due to the previous ownership, they have to consider sales when chances present themselves. This may be the last chance to sell Branthwaite at a fee of anything like £70m. It may be wise, in the long run, to take it.
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