Everton: Jarrad Branthwaite & Amadou Onana wanted by Manchester United in ‘Ambitious’ raid
Manchester United want to sign Everton pair Jarrad Branthwaite and Amadou Onana this summer as part of an “ambitious” transfer raid.
Writing on his personal Twitter account (20 February), French journalist Seb Ecrivain Foot reports that the two young talents from Goodison Park are targets for Sir Jim Ratcliffe after he took a 25% stake in the Old Trafford club.
And with the Toffees financial issues well documented the club could look to cash in on their stars to balance the books, with the Red Devils considering a double swoop.
“Manchester United are considering signing Amadou Onana and Jarrad Branthwaite from Everton,” he wrote.
“Under new minority co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the Red Devils are preparing for an ambitious summer of recruitment to strengthen their squad.”
Do Everton need to sell their best players?
In a nutshell, relegation would be a disaster but surviving and still being a Premier League club wouldn’t necessarily mean we’re safe either.
Financially the club is an absolute state right now and even being a top flight club may not save the team from having to be picked apart and sold in order to really be stable at this point.
Branthwaite and Onana are by far the biggest assets the club have and they will no doubt be bringing the most interest from clubs around Europe, with big fees likely to be demanded and received for both.
In an ideal world Everton would only need to sell one of the two in order to help build a strong squad and keep pushing in the new season, with the hope of keeping everyone and moving up the table.
But realistically if big offers come in for the players then the club will be forced to consider them and if Man United make a double-offer it’s likely to be for a huge fee. Everton will be hoping this is just paper talk.
In other Everton news, Roy Keane rages at what he saw Everton do in February.
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