Former Everton man Marcel Brands behind Jarrad Branthwaite PSV ‘no-brainer’ loan
Jarrad Branthwaite has begun his life away from Everton extremely well at PSV Eindhoven and there was one man behind the whole deal.
Marcel Brands was the Everton Director of Football until December 2021 when he left the club to be eventually replaced by Kevin Thelwell at Goodison Park.
Since then, he had made the move back to his homeland of the Netherlands with PSV Eindhoven where he made a beeline for Branthwaite this summer in a season-long loan move.
“Marcel signed me from Carlisle for Everton and we’ve had a really good connection since then, not just with me but my agent and family as well,” Branthwaite said on the club’s YouTube channel.
“Once he phoned me and said PSV wanted me to come, it was a no-brainer. I have trust in him and it’s a great club.”
Presence
This season was perhaps too soon to expect Branthwaite to be a regular starter for Everton in the Premier League having barely scraped survival last season but he is not far away at all.
If he keeps up his good form in the Eredivisie, which recently saw him score for PSV in a 4-3 win against Feyenoord, then he should expect to return to Merseyside and be straight into the side come the opening day of the 2023-23 campaign, barring injuries.
Conor Coady might not make his loan move permanent and with the constant injuries that seem to plague Ben Godfrey and Yerry Mina, Frank Lampard will need the backup regardless.
Standing at six-foot-six, there are few players in the Premier League who offer the same kind of aerial ability as he does and when the game is late and the Toffees are either pushing for a goal or trying to hold out for a slender win, he can be the man who saves them in more ways than one.