There is finally optimism in the air at Old Trafford, as Manchester United parted ways with Erik ten Hag – after inexplicably keeping him this summer despite having a new ownership group – and replaced him with a top young manager in Ruben Amorim.
Honestly, Manchester United haven’t had a good, long-term manager since Sir Alex Ferguson left. Their best coaches were Jose Mourinho and Ralf Rangnick, but neither of them really got a chance from a laughably woeful ownership and board.
Now, INEOS is in charge, and Amorim is ready to lead their new era as one of the most coveted managers in world football. There is great hope that he can be the one to build a team of young stars at Man United, as the club has been investing heavily in young players of late.
This past summer, Manchester United landed the best young center back in the world in Frenchman Leny Yoro, an excellent young defensive midfielder in Manuel Ugarte to pair next to future face of the franchise Kobbie Mainoo, and striker Joshua Zirkzee to join forces with Rasmus Hojlund up top.
There is an expectation that next summer, Ruben Amorim will reunite with some of his stars from Sporting CP, but there are plenty of other excellent young talents for Manchester United to give the Portuguese manager, too.
One of them could be a player Manchester United pursued heavily last summer before ultimately walking away from the bargaining table with the price shooting too high.
Everton star Jarrad Branthwaite was legitimately one of the best center backs in European football last season despite being a U23 player, and yet he has started just two matches for the Toffees this season under Sean Dyche.
Branthwaite was Everton’s most valuable player last season, so much so that the club were asking Manchester United to pay an outlandish 70 million pounds. But now that he’s not even starting every game for Dyche, Everton can’t justify asking for so much money for Branthwaite.
According to a report from the Daily Mail’s Sami Mokbel, Manchester United are one of the clubs circling Everton for a possible Branthwaite transfer as early as January.
It’s much more likely Dyche will get his act together and play Branthwaite every game or get fired outright before the Toffees sell him in January, but the larger point remains that Branthwaite isn’t being treated like a 70 million pound future superstar by the Toffees either.
Manchester United value Branthwaite highly, and even after signing Matthijs de Ligt and Yoro this past summer to join Lisandro Martinez, they could still use the England international at the back.
It’s more than plausible for Branthwaite to get moved next summer, and if he does, Man United could be there to pounce and sign the 22-year-old center back for significantly less than 70 million pounds.
