Manchester United revive interest in Jarrad Branthwaite after Everton takeover collapses
Manchester United have revived their interest in Jarrad Branthwaite after the Friedkin Group withdrew from buying Everton, according to The Telegraph.
Writing on their website (19 July), the news outlet report that the Red Devils had “appeared ready to accept defeat” in their chase for the 21-year-old defender.
But after Dan Friedkin pulled the plug on a takeover of the Toffees [The Athletic, 19 July], INEOS are now considering a “third and final” bid for Branthwaite and could go up to a total package of £55million to seal the deal amid the financial uncertainty on Merseyside following the latest developments.
It’s also believed however that after completing the signing of Leny Yoro from Lille this week, United would have to sell before they can buy another defender with Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Aaron Wan-Bissaka all potentially moving on.
Everton to be forced to sell Jarrad Branthwaite to Manchester United?
As soon as the news broke on Friday morning (19 July) about the takeover collapsing, almost every Everton fan’s initial thoughts probably switched to the future of Branthwaite.
The club had done so well to fight off interest in the centre-back, having rejected two bids from Manchester United [Times, 9 July] and sorted the financial issues to be in a comfortable position after agreeing the £50million sale of Amadou Onana to Aston Villa [Fabrizio Romano, 13 July].
But it may now have all been for nothing if the club are forced to sell Branthwaite anyway, and it would be an absolute disaster in the build up to the new campaign.
However, Alan Myers has shared that he was told short-term finances are fine and the takeover collapsing shouldn’t affect any business in this transfer window.
That would be fantastic news, but the club have said a lot of things that turned out to be nonsense in the past, so fans just have to hang tight and hope at this point.
In other Everton news, a US consortium is considering renewing their interest in buying the club.
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