MANCHESTER UNITED hope to steal a march in the chase for Jarrad Branthwaite — as soon as Jason Wilcox arrives.
United intend to make Wilcox their new transfer guru and are confident of brokering a compensation deal with Southampton, where he has been football director, within days.
And they believe his previous close working relationship with Branthwaite’s agent David Reeves will put them in pole position for Everton’s highly-rated centre-back.
United want to make the 21-year-old one of their marquee signings in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s rebuild.
A fee of more than £80million has been mentioned but United need to boost their backline.
Branthwaite has been the shining light in a nightmare season for Everton and was named in England’s squad for last month’s Wembley friendlies with Brazil and Belgium.
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Branthwaite did not make his Three Lions debut after being left on the bench.
But the centre-back is widely seen as the future of England’s defence.
Recent reports also suggest United are now lining up a bid amid doubts over the futures of Raphael Varane and Harry Maguire.
Both players are out of contract in 2025, with Varane a target for clubs in Saudi Arabia.
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As for Maguire, there is an option to extend his deal until 2026.
But West Ham are ready to lure him to London with the offer of first-team football.
And with new United owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe ready to trim the fat, both players could be sold to make room for fresh faces.
Branthwaite would certainly fit the bill, having already impressed on loan at Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven.
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He has appeared 28 times for the club in what has been a turbulent season.
The centre half scored his first goal for the club with a dramatic late equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Spurs.
Tuchel showed why he could be the perfect man for Man Utd, says Andy Dillon
By Andy Dillon
TOMMY TUCHEL could not have done it better had he submitted his CV to LinkedIn or Indeed.
Somehow mustering some gumption from the worst Bayern Munich team in more than a decade to stop a rampant Arsenal dead in their tracks is a spectacular job advert for a manager soon to be looking for work.
If Sir Jim Ratcliffe wasn’t watching from his Old Trafford office or from the cinema room in one of his tax havens, he should have been.
They may have even sat up and taken notice in Newcastle or in the owners’ Riyadh hub as Tuchel reminded everyone of his credentials as a top-level coach with devilish timing.
If change is coming then Tuchel is playing a trump card.
His side turned up and cowed the team that, as far as the current Premier League goes, is the best in England.
It may only add to the questions around Tuchel that after tossing away the only league easier to win than Scotland’s or Spain’s, Munich have sprung to life in Europe.
After 11 years unopposed as German champions, Chelsea’s former manager has chucked it in at home in a remarkable act of ineptitude. But freak years can happen.
Tuchel is an enigma. But that is part of the appeal as much as winning the Champions League with Chelsea just three months after taking the job.
With no new signings, he took a team that had lost five of the previous ten games and turned them into European Champions.
With Ratcliffe considering swingeing budget cuts at Old Trafford, a coach who can perform wonders on peanuts would be music to his ears.
Click here to ready Andy’s column in full.
Or to read more from Andy Dillon, click here.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
