Everton have had a bid of £500,000 rejected by Carlisle United for defender Jarrad Branthwaite, according to reports.
The Toffees were linked with the 17-year old centre-back last month, as Branthwaite has emerged as a bright young talent for the Cumbrians.
Sky Sports (via to Daily Record) had reported that Everton had looked set to complete the signing, with the club soon to finalise a deal worth around £750,000.
The Liverpool Echo claim that Everton are closely monitoring the defender’s situation, but they haven’t indicated that the Toffees are close to completing the signing, or that they’ve even made a formal offer.
However, Mail Online report that Everton have had a bid rejected for the promising player.
The report claims that Carlisle understand that with plenty of other interested clubs, including Manchester United, Celtic and Rangers, they can expect to demand more money than Everton are currently offering.
The Echo also report that Everton are still interested in Nottingham Forest defender Joe Worrall, who was also linked with a Merseyside switch last month.
Read Everton Verdict
Everton signing Branthwaite would continue the so far tried and true path of recruiting talented young players from the Football League and developing them on Merseyside.
Though they weren’t quite so young when first brought to Goodison Park, both Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Mason Holgate were recruited from the Football League when they were young, so we have seen that the process works.
It remains to be seen how far advanced Everton are in discussions, or if they’re even having discussions, with different reports providing different accounts. We do know that Everton are interested, so hopefully Marcel Brands can convince Branthwaite to move to the Premier League instead of the SPL.
