- Jarrad Branthwaite has been a transfer target for Manchester United recently
- The £70m-rated defender has only made three league appearances.
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Sean Dyche has admitted he would be unable to stop star defender Jarrad Branthwaite joining Manchester United in January unless Dan Friedkin completes his takeover at Goodison Park.
Dyche’s time at financially strapped Everton has been hit by the sale of key assets Anthony Gordon, Alex Iwobi and Amadou Onana, and United’s £70m interest in Branthwaite, 22, has been will intensify without the sale of Farhad Mashiri being completed.
“Offers for players will have nothing to do with me. You know or can imagine the financial situation here,” Dyche said frankly.
“Here we have already had to sell players that I did not want. This is only part of the club’s current business.
‘The current decision would be that if someone offers enough money for a player, he will probably leave.
Jarrad Branthwaite, valued at around £70million, has struggled with his fitness at the start of this season.
Sean Dyche spoke about the difficulty of retaining players considering the club’s current financial situation.
‘Alex Iwobi was like this about a day before the deadline. I didn’t want to lose it but they told me “look, this is a deal we have to make.” “That’s the way it is, so I thought I’d better work on getting the next group of players that I could bring in and use.”
Everton were docked points last season for breaching Premier League financial rules. With Friedkin in advanced talks to take over, Dyche is unsure how new ownership would alter the likelihood of sales.
“I don’t know, that’s something you’ll have to ask them if they come,” he said.
“I haven’t met them, I don’t know any of their plans, thoughts or feelings about the club or finances, so clearly it would be a new decision.”
‘Jarrad’s valuation, like that of any player, is a bit like selling your house. We used to all try it and say “that seems right”, but who knows now?
Branthwaite has started just once this season following groin surgery, but pressure is mounting on Dyche to call him up against West Ham on Saturday after Everton’s five-match unbeaten run ended at Southampton last weekend.
The defender has made brief substitute appearances in Everton’s last two games, but Dyche is aware that after their first comeback against Crystal Palace on September 28, when he played 90 minutes, Branthwaite developed a quadriceps ailment and was sidelined. lost another month.
“It’s about making sure he’s fit for good, rather than maybe because I thought he might be fit enough last time, and he went out and got injured.” Dyche said.
The English defender played his first 90 minutes of the season against Crystal Palace in September
“I was the one who said (before Palace) that I don’t think I’m suitable to play, let’s leave it for another week, but everyone felt: ‘No, we should.’
“I thought it was a little early, but the consensus was that he was right to play.” Some players can’t have every detail of an injury explained to them, but some are more delicate than others. You have to be very careful. If the approach goes too far, in a split second you affect someone for three or four weeks.
“Sometimes in football management the hardest decision is not to play with someone when everyone says you should.”
