“The player I’d want”: Silvestre recommends United sign Europe’s leading young centre-back

Five time Premier League winner, Mikael Silvestre, has recommended that his former club Manchester United sign Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite.

The centre back has been linked many times to numerous clubs and certainly seems one of the most probable targets United have on their summer transfer wish list.

He has impressed this term and has recently received a call up to the England national side alongside fellow first timer, the Red Devils’ own Kobbie Mainoo.

The Athletic also lavish praise on the Toffees player by stating “what makes Branthwaite so alluring is that his defensive abilities dovetail with his in-possession ability as a left-footed centre-back, capable of progressing play. Allied with an imposing frame and the ingredients are there for an elite centre-back”.

As a result, all of United, Real Madrid and Tottenham have been heavily linked with the player.

It has also been reported that he is INEOS’ number one target and with good reason, as he leads Europe in duels won this season.

Silvestre is yet another fan of the Carlisle-born centre back.

Responding to a question in an interview with EA FC about which defender he thinks his former side should realistically sign in the summer he claimed, “I would move for Jarrad Branthwaite. He’s the player I’d want to come to the club and challenge Raphaël Varane and Lisandro Martínez. Hopefully, he can come and win himself some gametime”.

When asked about the potential problems of pairing Branthwaite with Martinez, he responded, “I believe you can have two left-footed centre-backs in a defensive pairing. Obviously both of them would ideally like to play on the left-side of the two, but it’s possible for one of them to move over to the right and still do a good job”.

The former France international also defended his choice by citing Martinez’s poor injury record of late and suggested a tactical switch to compensate for another left footer.

“Both of them could play in a back three because we’ve seen it in the past when Luke Shaw has tucked into that role, so I’d still consider this move for Manchester United. You don’t even know if Martínez will be fit as he’s been injured at times since arriving at the club last season”.

In his playing days, Silvestre was a versatile left-footed full back who also filled in at centre back on numerous occasions, so his stance is probably not too surprising.

However, if Ten Hag is still the manager and assuming Branthwaite is signed, it is a sensible question to ask.

Elaborating on the issue earlier this year when asked why he chose Luke Shaw to play centre back, the United manager stated “I want a player on the left side of my defence, who is comfortable on the left side of their foot, because it gives you more and better angles and that is the reason I explained from the start”.

The same logic would naturally apply to the right hand side.

Therefore, should Ten Hag still be manager in the summer and United do recruit Branthwaite, it will be an interesting question to answer.

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