Reports coming out yesterday claim that Jarrad Braithwaite who is currently on a season-long loan at Dutch side PSV could see the loan become permanent this month.
According to the Daily Mail, the 20-year-old defender who cost £1M from Carlisle 3 years ago has impressed during his loan spell at PSV has also impressed several clubs during his loan spell including AS Roma and Manchester City.
The 6FT 5IN defender’s current contract ends in 2025 and PSV whose director of football is Everton’s former (Marcel Brands) signed the young English defender at Everton and still believes that he can get the best out of him with PSV and then potentially sell him on for a higher fee in a few years.
With Anthony Gordon expected to complete a reported £45M move to Newcastle United in the next few days, Moise Kean’s loan move becoming permanent in the summer for a reported £24M, Everton’s current FFP (financial fair play) problems become less of an issue, especially with the sale of a player that came through the youth academy it is seen as direct profit.
However, Marcel Brands knows more than anybody what financial restraints we are currently under, and any bid he puts in for Branthwaite could potentially go his way this January window, especially with Farhad Moshiri having to spend money on Frank Lampard, his backroom staff and whoever comes into replace him.
Hopefully, any bid that is put in for the youngster gets rejected unless it is a bid that we cannot simply refuse, but I cannot see that happening. With Yerry Mina out of contract in the summer, Conor Coady only in on-loan, Michael Keane has only come on as a sub once this season and has been linked with multiple moves this window.
Mason Holgate was seen as the fourth-best CB under Lampard, but with Sean Dyche expected to be coming in over the next few days, it could be seen as a fresh start for the likes of Keane and Holgate but if a bid is put in for Keane then it would make sense to cash in on him now whilst we can.