Rafa Benitez admits Jarrad Branthwaite performances forcing a rethink
Rafa Benitez has admitted that the performances of Everton youngster Jarrad Branthwaite could change his plans for the rest of the season.
The 19-year-old made his first Premier League start of the season and scored the equaliser as Everton held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night.
It was a depleted Everton side, who were missing up to 12 first-team players through injury and illness and Benitez was forced to field a team of young players mixed in with some senior players.
Branthwaite signed a new five-year contract at Goodison Park last week and the defender had initially been ready to go out on loan in January, but Benitez has admitted that he may need to rethink his plans going forward.
“At the beginning, when I was thinking about him, I saw a young player who could train with us and be coached by us and he could improve, I wanted to see him and he was training really well,” he said.
“I had the conversation with my staff and over the last two weeks he has been training really well so you can see he is improving and progressing.
“You want to keep players with us if you think they can improve.
“Ok, we will see now and also with covid around we have to be very careful, like today. We had 10-12 players unavailable.
“It was really important to see the young players doing well.”
Good enough
There’s always been the mantra that if you’re good enough then you’re old enough, and that seems to fit perfectly for Branthwaite.
With injuries to the defence currently, the former Carlisle man had a chance to make an impression and took it with both hands at Stamford Bridge.
Benitez has never been afraid to ring the changes and use young players, so if he continues to impress then he could become a regular part of the first-team squad for the Toffees.
As more first-team players return to fitness he will play less, but there is no rush for him to gain the regular minutes he craves. Getting some with Everton and training with the first-team regularly could set him up perfectly and he deserves all the credit for creating that opportunity for himself.
In other Everton news, Toffees warned that club don’t need to sell their target in January transfer window.