Chelsea beat Everton yesterday of course and to be honest, even though I gave Trevoh Chalobah man of the match, the best centre back on the pitch was probably Jarrad Branthwaite for Everton.
I agree with this I think from Will Reyner who has contributed to this site a few times.
@willreyner:
‘Thought Chalobah and Colwill were very good today but still… Branthwaite was the best defender on the pitch. Bring.’
Branthwaite is a great centre back profile and is super strong in the air and on the floor. Chelsea need a dominant centre back added to the back line, one that is physical and has a strong mentality.
The England international is huge at 6ft 5in tall but as well as having the perfect physical profile and being a top defender, he is also decent on the ball and can pass well.
By the end of the season, Branthwaite will have almost 100 senior appearances for Everton in the Premier League, and around 150 senior appearances in all competitions as well as being capped once for England and having been in and around the senior squad for a while now.
He turns 23 in June and although he might not be the fully experienced option that some would prefer to see arrive, he does have some decent senior experience and a lot of Premier League experience – so he could be the perfect compromise to our owners wanting to keep a young squad but also looking to add experience. More on that in another article today too.
Branthwaite is high on Chelsea’s centre back shortlist this summer, as I have been reporting for some time now. He joins others high on the list such as Dean Huijsen, Marc Guehi, Jorrel Hato, and others a bit further down such as Jonathan Tah, Antonio Silva, and Tomas Araujo.
Other names we have been given recently in terms of a scouting sense at least and some interest, is Illia Zabarnyi, David Hancko, and Loic Bade, as reported on the site a couple of weeks back.
For me though, Branthwaite should be one of the top names we look to bring this summer purely because of his physical profile and mentality. That is the exact calibre of defender we need to add to our back line.
