Jarrad Branthwaite is reportedly becoming irritated over the lack of progress on a deal to join Manchester United.
The Red Devils clearly need a strengthening of their defensive department as they conceded a mind-boggling 85 goals in all competitions last year.
This week has seen reports come out that they are making strong progress on a deal for defender Matthijs de Ligt as he is keen to sign for the club and Bayern are open to reaching an agreement at what they consider to a be a fair price.
Nonetheless, one player the club has been chasing to also fill the void defensively is Everton’s Branthwaite and they agreed personal terms with the defender in the middle of June.
Unfortunately, there has been little progress since as United made a bid of around £45 million for the England international but it was rejected.
The Toffees demand much more for the player, something in the region of £70-80 million according to several reports, a figure that United deem excessive, emboldening the Liverpool club’s belief they will keep the 22 year old.
According to The Daily Mail however, Branthwaite himself is far from happy with how events are unfolding.
It is reported that the centre back “is understood to have grown increasingly agitated over the lack of movement in negotiations.”
In some positive news for the player however, it is thought that United have not ruled out moving for the defender once they complete a deal for De Ligt.
United “have not given up hope of signing Branthwaite to play alongside him on the left if they can sell players to raise the funds”, although any deal would have to be significantly lower than what Everton are currently demanding.
The arrivals of Dan Ashworth as sporting director and Christopher Vivell as director of recruitment will likely speed up United’s work in the transfer window as they aim to complete deals for De Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee and Manuel Ugarte.
Any other signings United aim to complete will be dependent on sales and one would think any move for Branthwaite would be on the back burner until at least one of Harry Maguire or Victor Lindelof are sold to raise the fee and free up wages.
United may have to act fast however as it was relayed here yesterday that cross-city rivals Manchester City may be tempted to strike for the Everton man while United are distracted by completing a deal for De Ligt.
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