Manchester United make Jarrad Branthwaite stance clear amid £80m transfer comparison

Manchester United insist they won’t be held to ransom over a deal for Everton centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite, with the Toffees continuing to demand £70m.

United saw a first offer of £35m plus £8m in add-ons rejected for the 21-year-old, with Everton branding the bid unacceptable. The two clubs also disagreed over how achievable the bonuses were.

Negotiations are continuing but United have a relatively tight initial transfer budget this summer and won’t pay £70m for Branthwaite, who enjoyed an excellent season for Everton but missed out on England’s Euro 2024 squad.

There have been suggestions that Branthwaite is worth the fee being put on his head by Everton when compared to the £80m United paid Leicester City for Harry Maguire in 2019, which is still the largest fee ever paid for a defender. Manchester City paid £77m for Josko Gvardiol last summer.

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But sources at Old Trafford insist any comparison with Maguire or attempt to use that fee as a benchmark is now outdated and unrealistic. That deal came before Covid-19 had ripped a hole in the finances of clubs and pre-dated the Premier League’s more stringent Profit and Sustainability rules (PSR).

Those rules are having an effect on this window and United’s budget is reduced further until the current accounting period ends on June 30. That date is also something of a deadline at Goodison Park, with Everton keen to bank profit before then to avoid another breach of the regulations, having already been docked points twice.

They are in talks to sell 21-year-old winger Lewis Dobbin to Aston Villa and there is hope at Goodison Park that a deal could push them towards compliance with the rules, or at least close enough to be able to present strong enough mitigation in any future discussions with the Premier League.

Selling Branthwaite would certainly see them edge into the safe zone, but for now, that is a deal stuck in neutral. That could lead to United moving on to other targets, although a deal for Nice centre-back Jean-Clair Todibo is now off due to UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules.

A striker is also a priority for United during this window while reinforcements in central midfield are also considered likely.