17 Jul 2024 20:53:30
John Heitinga signed.
Now your talking, a good quality addition to our CB ranks. A good all round defender, with bags of experience. Should help shore that backline up. Pity it is as a coach ?.
By all accounts he is rated highly, worked his way up through the Ajax ranks. Even being manager for a brief stint, before going to WHU as part of Gollum's backroom staff.
{Ed025's Note - ex-Everton man TF, which means he has a winning mentality, i wish him all the best..
17 Jul 2024 21:09:13
Aye Ed25. About time someone made the trip across the park again, although he took a detour haha. Any chance of you flogging us Branthwaite? ?.
{Ed025's Note - he would suit you down to the ground TF, i cant see it happening though mate even though i think he will leave us..
17 Jul 2024 22:54:48
True Ed25. I can't see him leaving this summer tho.
{Ed025's Note - dont bet against it TF mate..
18 Jul 2024 00:41:54
I think Branthwaite is a good lad and he won't force a move elsewhere, unlike Stones, Barkely, or Gordon. Not sure how true this is but I read somewhere that he woukd only leave Everton if an acceptable offer was made for him. And I don't think Everton needs to sell anymore so I can still see him staying at Everton for the foreseeable future. I'd still like him to be with us though since we'd then have the best two young CBs in England in Quansah and him.
18 Jul 2024 01:42:14
Branthwaite has all the physical qualities but I don’t think he’s as good on the ball as ed025 thinks, and there were times I was watching Everton where his positioning and awareness of danger were suspect, I do wonder how we would do in a team that doesn’t have to defend anywhere near as much as Everton and plays on the front foot, quansah has proven that is his game, branthwaite is an unknown quantity in that regard, he is faster and has better recovery pace than quansah (who isn’t slow but isn’t blessed with extreme pace) but otherwise I’d take quansah any day for our needs.
Good player with the potential to be great, but Everton fans saying he’ll be better than stones or that he’s the English Maldini are just nuts to me. Still, if he were 50m or so and came to us I wouldn’t say no, him and quansah will be England’s center back pairing for the next ten years conceivably.
18 Jul 2024 00:00:48
Didn't you already close to sell Onana Ed25? You won't need the money anymore I would think.
{Ed025's Note - yeah mfahmee it should be completed by the weekend mate, never really got going with us but good luck to him..
18 Jul 2024 08:16:59
Branthwaite is another Dunk, Tarkowski type defender. Decent enough but certainly not worth all the hype.
I’ve watched him numerous times and I just don’t get the love in with him. The only reason I’d ever want to sign him is because it would annoy the bitters.
{Ed025's Note - i dont think you have seen enough of him then BP, hes very good imo and if you could get past your jealousy mate you would see that, hes one of the very top young defenders in the world hence his price tag and the amount of interest there is to secure his services..
18 Jul 2024 08:32:58
Don’t think that’s very fair on dunk bp, he’s a very different kind of defender to tarkowski (who’s more no nonsense)
18 Jul 2024 09:01:05
I've got to put bias aside and agree with Ed025 here. Branthwaite is a very good young player and I reckon he'll be regarded in a similar bracket to guys like Terry, Ferdinand and Campbell by the time he retires. I think Quansah will be in that bracket as well to be fair. The pair of them really stand out amongst the young English CB's in the Premier League as head and shoulders above the rest, in my opinion. It's not just the multifunctional defensive capabilities they possess, it's also that composure with and without the ball. They give off that aura of control which all top CB's do.
I think the only other CB's in the league with a ceiling as high as them are Saliba and maybe Botman if he can ever get over his injuries. They're both slightly older but still only 23 and 24 years old with massive potential.
Unfortunately Branthwaite looks destined to end up at Man United and that would be a massive coup for them. Everton should fight to keep him as long as possible though because I'd imagine they have long term goals of breaching the top 8 once they move into their new stadium. Maybe sustained European football of some description would tempt Branthwaite to be a One Club Man. I don't see him disrespecting Everton and joining Liverpool though, unfortunately. United beckons if Everton look like they'll remain in this rutt for the foreseeable future.
{Ed025's Note - very fair assessment there MK..
18 Jul 2024 15:54:07
Price tag means nothing Ed25 I say it as I see it and I’ve seen nothing special in Branthwaite whatsoever.
If price tag was anything to go by then Harry Maguire is the best CB in the world, which he isn’t. Far from it in fact.
Branthwaite is benefitting from the fact that every other Everton defender (bar Tarkowski) is championship quality at best so since he’s played he’s improved the team. But making Everton a 15th place team instead of 17th doesn’t make you a great player. He’s a competent defender, that’s about it for me.
{Ed025's Note - its how you see it i suppose BP, when you are watching an Everton player you will be looking for the negatives and praying that they mess up to feed your bitterness, myself i see the good side of his game and look for the positives as is my want, that does not make you a bad judge mate...just a little greasy.. :)
18 Jul 2024 18:36:21
Would there be a world where if LFC said we aren’t giving £65m for MG and offer £70m for branthwaite it would be entertained by Everton or is it a thing where they both don’t entertain any of the players - it’s surprising to me that when we are talking about a left footed CB, branthwaite is close to the top of that list, I would take him straight away.
18 Jul 2024 19:30:47
I'm pretty sure Everton would demand at least double whatever we offer.
18 Jul 2024 21:38:15
No bitterness here Ed, he looks like he’s leaving you lot anyway and quite frankly I couldn’t care less.
I just honestly don’t see what he’s done to warrant the way he being talked about as the next big thing. Someone even mentioned him in the same sentence as Terry, Ferdinand and Campbell! Ridiculous.
He improved Everton’s defence but that wasn’t hard. I think he’ll really struggle in a top team similar to what’s happened to Maguire.
{Ed025's Note - we will have to disagree on this one i think BP, by the way im not saying hes the next Ferdinand, Terry or Campbell mate...hes the next Beckenbauer or Bobby moore.. :)