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Manchester United’s pursuit of Jarrad Branthwaite looks to be taking on a new turn ahead of their second official off for the English centre-back.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has identified the 22-year-old as one of United’s key transfer targets to rebuild the defence alongside OGC Nice’s Jean-Clair Todibo and Juventus’ Gleison Bremer.
Trying to secure Branthwaite, United submitted an initial bid of £35 million, which ultimately was rejected by Everton for being too far beneath their valuation of the centre-back, placing him in the region of £80 million.
Everton are increasingly at risk of breaching the profit and sustainability rules set by the Premier League if the club don’t offload a considerable asset by the 30th June, which gave some encouragement for the Branthwaite deal, however the Toffees are holding strong, having relieved some of the pressure by selling some academy graduates for pure profit under the same rules.
With Newcastle pulling out of their pursuit of Dominic Calvert-Lewin who’s been valued at £40 million, more pressure may now lie on Everton to part ways with their key defender.
However, reports from The Mirror suggest that United may be looking at a different kind of deal with their second bid.
With United looking to offload some of their own unwanted players, it appears as though the Red Devils may be considering a transfer swap deal to make way for Branthwaite.
The report explains that United are considering using Victor Lindelof and Aaron Wan-Bissaka in a player swap deal, although it’s unknown at this time if this will also include a cash deal as a player-plus-cash.
It’s been known that both players are available to leave the club this summer with the two defenders entering the last year of their contract at the end of the month, making this transfer window the last change for United to sell the two for a profit or use them in any deal without extending their contracts.
In recent weeks, Lindelof has been reported as being the subject of interest from Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce, with the Turkish club in need of rebuilding their own defence.
Meanwhile, another Turkish giant, Galatasaray have declared interest in Wan-Bissaka having the right-back as their primary target his summer.
With both men being considered in this new player swap deal for Branthwaite, it’s assumed that nothing has come from the Turkish clubs’ interest as of yet, however if an offer did come in for either, or both, this could raise enough funds to be able to meet Everton’s transfer fee demands.
