Branthwaite’s dominant Liverpool display leaves just one question for Man Utd

Jarrad Branthwaite helped to underline his readiness to move to Manchester United in the summer with another impressive display for Everton against Liverpool.

Man Utd are seeking at least one centre-back in the summer who they can rely upon in big games, and the 21-year-old stepped up impressively for the Toffees in a 2-0 success over their rivals from across Stanley Park.

Branthwaite is one of the options the Red Devils are monitoring.

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FootballTransfers exclusively revealed in March that he is one of their primary transfer targets and since then the Old Trafford side have accelerated their interest, ready to go “all-in” to beat their rivals to the England U21 centre-back. Football Insider has since confirmed this information, indicating that Man Utd are seeking a rapid transfer.

That desire to get the signing done quickly will only have been increased after watching Branthwaite’s dominant performance against Liverpool.

Faced with the Premier League’s third-leading scorers, the centre-back was solid. He won his only tackle, two of three aerial duels and three of four ground duels. Branthwaite also completed eight clearances.

The other obvious positive of his evening was the opening goal of the game, a scrappy effort after some shambolic Liverpool defending. Alisson got a large part of his body on the shot but was unable to keep it out.

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Not all good news for Branthwaite

There are areas to Branthwaite’s game that will need to be tidied up if he goes to Old Trafford, though.

His pass completion was just 56% – the lowest figure of any outfield player – compared to the 81% central defensive partner James Tarkowski mustered.

This has been a consistent problem. Branthwaite rates among the lower half of passers when it comes to Premier League centre-backs this season, according to SciSports.

Branthwaite vs Premier League centre-backs: Passing

Indeed, he seems to be benefitting from playing alongside Tarkowski, a more experienced but still very capable campaigner.

FootballCritic scored the ex-Burnley man’s performance against Liverpool at 8.5 while Branthwaite earned a still impressive 7.6.

This hints that the Red Devils will need a more senior player to field Branthwaite next to if and when he is signed.

With Harry Maguire and Raphael Varane among the players likely to move on from Man Utd in the summer, it may be that the Old Trafford club need to buy Branthwaite and another to get the best from their defence. The question is: who will that be?