Neither Jarrad Branthwaite nor Nathan Patterson will be ready for when Everton’s Premier League campaign resumes on the other side of the international break as the pair continue their respective recoveries from surgery.
Branthwaite underwent a hernia operation over the summer to correct a problem that had been hampering him in the final few weeks of last season while Patterson needed to repair serious damage to his hamstring sustained when he came as a substitute at Chelsea in April.
While Patterson is recovering from the more significant injury, it had been hoped that Branthwaite in particular, a big miss at the heart of the Blues’ defence as Sean Dyche’s side have made a horrendous start to 2024-25, would have been fit enough to return by now but lately there has been no public indication of the timing of when he will be fully fit.
Everton plan to stage at least one behind-closed-doors friendly to help boost the fitness of certain other players, among them Dele Alli who is rumoured to be close to being awarded a short-term contract by the Club in a bid to kickstart his career after a lengthy absence, but Branthwaite and Patterson will be missing.
In his press conference after Saturday’s shock defeat to Bourenemouth, Dyche was asked if either would be involved in any “bounce games” at Finch Farm for players not on international duty and he replied that, “they are not there yet”.
It means that neither player will feature in the Premier League clash with Aston Villa on 14 September and it’s conceivable that October could be the first time either are back in action, although it is hoped Branthwaite isn’t that far away.