Everton interested in young Irish defender O'Brien

Despite a quiet few days since the end of June, Everton were suprisingly active in the first few weeks of the transfer window making additions to the squad.

The Blues signed midfielder Tim Iroegbunam from Aston Villa and agreed a further year-long loan for Jack Harrison.

And although we are still waiting for confirmation from the club, it seems very likely that the Toffees will add forward Iliman Ndiaye from Marseille.

All this is in contrast to what had been expected from most of us when last season finished after what had been the most difficult, challenging and chaotic campaign that any club had experienced in Premier League history.

When the dust on that season had settled it was clear that Everton's finances were still in a serous state which had led to those two hugely damaging and controversial PSR breaches and points deductions.

So, player exits had seemed far more likely than any incomings with Amadou Onana and Jarrad Branthwaite both targets for other clubs.

However, despite some strong rumours that both players will leave Merseyside this summer, so far neither have left Goodison Park.

The only exits were forward Lewis Dobbin and then defender Ben Godfrey both of whom have moved on raising crucial funds to help the Blues stabalise their finances.

It still looks as though at least one of Onana and/or Branthwaite will leave the club later in the transfer window with stories of Branthwaite joining Manchester United although they may now have their sights set on another centre-back now.

Even if Branthwaite does not go, the Blues will still need additional defensive reinforcements at centre-back with Godfrey's departure.

After James Tarkowski and Branthwaite, the starting two the only other recognised central defender in the squad is Micheal Keane.

Unfortunately, Keane has a long-standing reputation for making costly errors and cannot be relied upon to deliver consistent performances.

Everton have been linked with a young centre-back - Hull City's Jacob Greaves - who certainly looks a pretty good potential replacement for Branthwaite.

Today comes another rumour that the Toffees have also identified O'Brien as a possible addition to shore up Sean Dyche's defensive options.

O'Brien looks a strong all-round central defender and could well be a very solid like-for-like replacement for Branthwaite.