London instead of Manchester, Manchester Utd could lose this target to Arsenal

The two legendary Premier League clubs look to duel it out in the window for this young defender

17/01/2024, 11:00 PM +00:00

The two rivals look to duel it out for this young defender

Manchester United vs Arsenal. A rivalry that was built in the 90s by Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, that still lives on to this day. Although the two clubs are not going head-to-head for the league anymore, there is still no love lost between the two clubs. Instead of on the pitch, they’ve taken their battles to the transfer market where the two clubs love to go for similar players.

Declan Rice, Mason Mount, Jurrien Timber, Martin Zubimendi, Lisandro Martinez, and Amadou Onana. Those are some of the players that the clubs have both gone for at the same time and they seem to split the rewards most of the time, but sometimes they both walk out as losers in the race. The clubs have now both set their eyes on another player. Jarrad Branthwaite.

The young English centre-back is Everton’s crown jewel now as it seems every big club wants to sign him including the likes of Real Madrid according to some reports. Under the new direction of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, it has been said that United wants to strengthen their English core within the squad and Jarrad Branthwaite would be a great addition and start to that plan. While United’s interest in Jarrad has been well documented, Arsenal’s is brand new. According to Alex Crook of TalkSport, the North London club have now joined the race and declared their interest. It remains to be seen what groundwork has been done by each of the interested clubs.

Manchester United’s interest in improving the squad in defense is well known given the number of players United have been linked with this past month. With Ratcliffe’s English plan, it appears Jarrad would be the favorite amongst the options.

Everton’s stance on the future of Branthwaite

In late December, Everton took the stance of it would cost 100 million pounds to sign the defender according to the Daily Mail. But with Everton likely to get hit with another penalty after being found guilty of another breach, they might have no choice but to accept a cheaper price for the defender.