Tony Bellew is convinced ‘unbelievable’ 21-year-old is going to leave Everton this summer
Everton have a long history of being forced into the sales of their best and brightest talents.
In fact, across the last decade and further, it has almost always felt like an inevitability.
If a player shines for the Toffees, the lack of financial backing and therefore ambition almost always drives them into the arms of the Premier League’s elite.
Romelu Lukaku, John Stones, Richarlison and Ross Barkley. These are just four names, all of whom have joined other English clubs in the last eight years seeking silverware. Naturally, they have earned varying degrees of success.
And so, with another crop of players impressing against all adversity, once again these bigger clubs have come sniffing.
Keeping a hold of Jarrad Branthwaite is expected to prove equally as difficult, with Tony Bellew now preparing the worst.
With the Englishman having shot to stardom for his domineering displays at the back, Sean Dyche has struck gold by unveiling this titanic defender when he did.
His partnership with James Tarkowski has formed the foundation of almost everything good that Everton have managed this campaign.
Such a sentiment is echoed by Bellew, but prefaced by the worries that are to come.
Speaking live on talkSPORT [07/02/24, 09:41 am], he claimed: ‘Jarrad is an unbelievable player. A really top talent and we have known about him for a while.
‘It’s a shame the situation we’re in and where we are because we obviously know what’s going to happen. I’m just so happy he was still after the transfer window.’
It is a testament to the fine campaign that the 21-year-old is enjoying that he has attracted such widespread interest, with the likes of Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and even Liverpool all referenced at some point during the season.
This is in no small part to his role in fixing the Toffees’ leaky defence, which last campaign conceded 57 goals across the 38-game season.
Meanwhile, this term they are enjoying a fine run of solidity, and no other club boasts more clean sheets than them.
Having featured in 20 Premier League games thus far, his tally of 2.1 tackles, 4.5 clearances and 6.2 ball recoveries per game perfectly showcase his dominance at the back, via Sofascore.
Branthwaite is set to command an astronomical fee should he leave in the summer, so there is at least that to ease Evertonians’ frustrations.
But, as Bellew notes, it is a shame that they will once again likely lose a key asset due to issues from above.
