Young Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite has suffered a serious ankle injury while playing on loan at Blackburn Rovers.
The young Englishman went to Ewood Park in the last transfer window as his opportunities at Everton were limited after he had recovered from a freak injury picked up in an early season League Cup tie against Salford City.
This is another example of a loan spell that hasn’t exactly been a huge success as he was involved in an unsavoury incident early on in the move and for me anyway raises questions again about the value of such loan deals.
Branthwaite’s problems come after Anthony Gordon, while not injured, has hardly played at Preston recently calling into question his move there.
Given the problems that Mason Holgate has experienced this season, (especially his calamitous performance against Aston Villa on Saturday), having Branthwaite at the club might have been helpful giving Ancelotti another central defensive option even more so with all the injuries that the team have had this season.
Branthwaite impressed when he had a few late chances at the back end of last season and with fellow youngster Lewis Gibson also sent out on loan, Branthwaite might have stayed put.
Injuries have been unreal this season with at one point basically every one of the Blues first-team squad had been out hurt this season and Carlo Ancelotti was having to rely on a host of kids on the substitutes bench.
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This was hardly a good situation for the manager to be in and left him with little quality and experience to call on when he wanted to change a game.
Talking of central defenders the latest transfer link is to a Barcelona centre-back Ronald Araujo.
Accoriding to reports floating around today Everton are interested in the Barca player and may make a move for him this summer.
According to Whoscored.com Araujo is a very strong defender with a great set of skills who would probably represent a good investment if he was available for a reasonable fee.
I’m not advocating Everton do buy a centre-back this summer because I think there are other priorities for improving the team’s quality.
But with injuries to defenders like Branthwaite and the hugely disappointing form of Holgate, it may be necessary to perhaps consider bringing in another central defenders.