As we reflect on three woeful Everton performances over the last few weeks, one of the very few positives to come out of it all is the apparent progress that young centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite has been making.
Branthwaite was the only player Everton signed in the January transfer window and it was assumed he would spend time in the youth system before maybe getting a chance in the first team, possibly sometime next season.
However, because of injuries and the poor form of others, the youngster has been given a chance this season. He came into the team against Wolves and struggled a bit to get into the rhythm of the game and deal with a dangerous Wolves frontline. Although so did all of the Blues players.
Then he was brought on during Thursday night’s game against Aston Villa, after an injury to Mason Holgate upset the Blues starting lineup.
Branthwaite settled quite quickly into the game and despite only coming on as a substitute, he was arguably the Toffees standout performer in the match.
He looks a very decent prospect; quick, a strong defender on the ground and in the air, two-footed, confident and comfortable on the ball.
His potential evidenced in these albeit limited opportunities, are early indications that the Blues might have unearthed themselves a really good young defender.
So what does this mean for the team going forward and for Everton’s crucial summer transfer strategy once this season concludes?
I’ve said before that I believe the Toffees must focus their transfer efforts on solving their horrendous midfield problems. Even at the expense of tackling other weaknesses in the team.
One of those weaknesses is in central defence. It’s obvious that Everton haven’t found the right balance there, as this season’s results has once more underlined.
At the end of the last campaign it briefly looked as though the Toffees had found a solution in central defence with the partnership of Michael Keane and loanee Kurt Zouma.
But although they tried to sign him long-term, Chelsea wouldn’t sanction the sale of Zouma last summer and so that partnership was broken up. Back to square one.
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This season as the team leaked plenty of goals, the Blues have again been linked with a host of new centre-backs, such as Gabriel Magahales and Jean-Clair Todibo etc.
If Everton can secure a genuinely top quality centre-half this summer for a reasonable fee, then so be it. However, perhaps with the emergence of Branthwaite, the Toffees might not need to do so and could concentrate their financial resources on that midfield.
I would be prepared to accept Everton going into next season with a group of central defenders made up of Holgate, Mina, Keane and Branthwaite, as long as the Toffees have solved their midfield problems.
That group isn’t ideal though, but does have a good mix of youth and experience. It also doesn’t include another young central defender, Lewis Gibson, who hasn’t yet had a chance in the first team but has impressed on loan.
And again, as I’ve mentioned before, if Jean-Philippe Gbamin can recover from his constant injuries, he is also a more than capable central defender as well as midfielder. So all this potentially creates further conundrums for the Blues top brass as they ponder their transfer options.