Man Utd face major Chelsea transfer problem after £50m Jarrad Branthwaite bid rejected

Manchester United have seen a second bid for England defender Jarrad Branthwaite knocked back by Everton

Manchester United have seen another bid for Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite knocked back. The Everton defender is in high demand this summer, with Tottenham also mentioned as showing an interest in completing a deal.

United have now had two bids rejected by the Toffees. An initial £43million offer was turned down, with a new £45million bid plus £5million in add-ons now also rejected by Everton.

Branthwaite enjoyed an impressive breakthrough season at Goodison Park last year, missing only three Premier League games and playing the full 90 minutes in 34 of the 38 top-flight matches. His form even earned a call-up to the preliminary England squad for Euro 2024, before he was one of seven players cut by manager Gareth Southgate ahead of the tournament starting in Germany.

Everton suffered two separate points deductions during the 2023/24 campaign and are desperate to avoid more in the upcoming season. They were one of the clubs cited as needing to balance the books to comply with Financial Fair Play and Profit and Sustainability Rules this summer.

The Toffees have, however, already sold Ben Godfrey and Lewis Dobbin and will be loathe to lose Branthwaite this summer.

If they do let the 22-year-old leave, though, it will be on their terms. And any interested parties will have to pay the price to sign him.

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Everton have put that price at between £70million and £80million and there is a good reason for this. Manchester United have a Chelsea - and Manchester City - problem when it comes to completing a deal for the centre-back.

Everton believe Branthwaite is in the same bracket as the likes of Harry Maguire - whom United splashed out £80million on - Wesley Fofana - whom Chelsea paid Leicester £75million for - and Josko Gvardiol - whom City splurged £77.6million on.

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It is hard to disagree with them when you look at the market and Branthwaite is younger than all of them were when they completed their big-money moves.

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