Jarrad Branthwaite: Why Everton defender is ready for the next step up

• Published before Everton's draw with Crystal Palace

Jarrad Branthwaite did exactly that last season, as he rejected offers from Championship clubs and chose to move on loan to PSV Eindhoven instead.

That decision seems to have paid off spectacularly, as the 21-year-old figured regularly for the Dutch giants and came back with the confidence and ability to slot straight into the Everton starting XI.

In his first season as a Premier League starter, the Englishman has produced a number of commanding performances and ranks first for interceptions and tackle success rate, and second for blocks and clearances amongst the Everton squad.

There has been a lot of turmoil around the Toffees after they received that 10-point deduction, but Branthwaite has been a driving force in their quest for survival.

Jarrad Branthwaite Transfer Value - how much is he worth now?

According to our Player Valuation Model, Branthwaite has an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €19.3 million.

His value was just over €2 million a few short years ago, but his progression from playing in the Championship, moving to the Eredivisie and now getting regular minutes in the Premier League has led to a meteoric rise.

The Toffees will hope to keep hold of Branthwaite, but their financial troubles might force them to cash in on their star defender. His high potential and homegrown status mean any interested club will have to pay a huge premium to secure his services.

Is Branthwaite ready for a step up?

Branthwaite has a good degree of positional versatility. His ability to competently defend both the box and the wide areas means that he can play as a left or right-sided centre back, and also as a wide centre-back in a three at the back formation.

Former Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was his manager at PSV, had this to say about Branthwaite.

"He is good on the ball, can play on the left or the right of centre-back because he is two-footed. He has height and speed, so he is very complete.”

The former Carlisle United man is assertive in his challenges and makes 3.81 tackles and interceptions, putting him amongst the top 5% of centre backs in the English top flight.

Branthwaite’s strength and athleticism has also seen him tackle 30 dribblers this season, which is more than any other central defender. Apart from such ground duels, he also excels in the air by winning 2.48 aerial duels at a solid win rate of 68.4 %.

His dominance in the air also extends to the other end of the pitch, where the 1.95-metre centre-back registers a very high non-penalty xG per shot value of 0.19 - mostly from headers.

The data clearly points to a player with excellent overall defensive ability. But a top-quality modern-day centre back needs to be accomplished on the ball. So how does he fare in this aspect?

Branthwaite’s passing numbers this season don’t make for a great reading, but that is mostly down to playing for a Sean Dyche side which has one of the worst passing figures in the league.

We can check this by looking at how he fared playing in PSV’s progressive style under Van Nistelrooy. There, Branthwaite made almost 60 passes per 90, and his two-footedness saw him attempt a good balance of short and long passes at all angles.

This is what makes the England U21 international such an interesting profile. He developed the physical side of the game through his loan spell at Blackburn Rovers in the Championship, but then also got crucial experience in a possession-dominant PSV side.

The Everton number 32 now needs to work on his progression by carrying the ball which could take his game to the next level, and give him an outside shot of making Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the Euros.

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