According to Daily Mail, Liverpool have joined Manchester United in the race to sign Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite next year.
The England international was tipped to join Man United during the recent transfer window, but the Red Devils were unable to find an agreement with Everton for his signature. They made multiple transfer bids for the highly-rated centre-back, but none of them came close to the £70 million asking price.
Daily Mail report that Liverpool are now poised to hijack the pursuit of the 22-year-old and they are prepared to pay closer to what Everton want for the central defender. Furthermore, the Merseyside giants are prepared to make a transfer approach as early as January than waiting until next summer.
Superb talent
The Reds have Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate as their regular centre-backs with Jarell Quansah and Joe Gomez being the substitute options. Gomez was widely fancied to leave the Anfield giants in the summer and he could depart in the next transfer window in the search for regular minutes.
Gomez’s exit would provide the platform for Liverpool to spend big on Branthwaite, who could be seen as a future successor to van Dijk. Branthwaite has the ability to play from the left and right centre-back positions, but he is most comfortable from the former of those positions. That is where van Dijk has established himself.
The Dutchman has entered the last year of his contract with Liverpool and as things stand, there has been no progress over a contract extension. The Reds will want to keep hold of the 33-year-old and the next few months could determine whether the club can find the breakthrough over a renewal with the Netherlands international.
Either way, Branthwaite would be a tremendous piece of signing for the Reds. He has a towering presence with good physicality. The defender, who has been described as ‘pretty special‘ by Jamie Carragher, is also good in clearing his lines and does not shy away from making tackles. He should get better with age and experience.
