Hard work brought Branthwaite back from the brink of giving up on football

It's a credit to his parents who at first realized he had a future in the game, and must be excited at the development he has made.

I believe the Everton scouts at the time need congratulations as they must have realized his potential talent.

Seriously, we have a Bargain Basement player on our hands, and at such a young age, alongside Tarkowski, they have formed a formidable partnership, which, is reflected in our very decent defence stats.

Can we hang to him in these money-orientated days of the Premier League? A lot goes on behind the scenes which we, who used to be the life-blood of the club, are rarely, if never, a party to. If they see him as a saleable asset, over someone, if we have genuine aspirations to hang on to at all costs, and we build equally talented bargain players, albeit in different positions around him!

Well, I can dream, can't I?

I'm no fan of Keane the player, as distinct from Keane the man, who seems like a great bloke. But you've got an England international with about 300 Premier League games to his name who previously worked successfully enough with Dyche to get a £25M move to Everton.

Then you've got a kid who got a handful of appearances before being shipped off to the same Dutch league where Davy Klaassen was a superstar.

It's a bit harsh to bash Dyche for not starting Branthwaite sooner as he pretty quickly realized he was better and he's been a regular starter ahead of Keane for most of the season.

It's easy after the fact to say coulda shoulda woulda but, last summer, Branthwaite was unproven potential.

I love watching him play. He is class and at 21 is only going to get better.

My first memory of him was him coming in at the back post in front of the travelling blues to hit the equaliser and send the crowd wild. I think he was only 19.

I hope we enjoy him for a few more seasons and maybe more.

I have just commented on the Jordan Pickford thread about comparing players.

No two are the same, but you can draw comparisons. When John Stones came through, I drew comparisons to Alan Hansen (forgive me Father for I have sinned!).

Well, now I would draw comparisons with Jarrad to Stones. Maybe he doesn't get as far forward, but that could be down to how Everton are currently set up to play.

Great defender, composed and comfortable on the ball. There's not much not to like about him.

Keane had been an unmitigated disaster for the past 2 seasons, yet Dyche persisted with his favourites.

It was fan pressure that got him out the team.

I don't know him as a person, but he seems a balanced individual. If I can say, a player that didn't live up to the early expectations and potential. He switches off too much and doesn't have great powers of recovery.

He lacks anticipation and doesn't read the game. At the time, Burnley got a tune of £30M out of us. I always rib my Manchester mates that in Harry Maguire, they bought an expensive Michael Keane.

All said, I can't know his effort. And in terms of the past couple of seasons, his goal against Palace put us on the path for survival. Likewise, his last-minute screamer against Tottenham.

On another note, I assume we inserted a similar clause when we sold Gordon, like most well-run clubs would do????

Everyone has doubts sometimes, I'm just glad that Branthwaite recovered from such a debilitating injury, which I now consider to be a schizophrenic injury, given its nature and how it usually only affects children in their very tender teenage years.

I never expected to see him back at Everton once he went to PSV but the giveaway for anyone still not convinced by Jarrad's talent was that the Dutch side were prepared to break their record transfer fee to sign this very talented kid.

He is still getting caused a few problems by the odd big powerful centre-forward but I'm certain that Brainthwaith is going right to the top of the tree. Good luck to him, because he seems like a humble kid with no airs or graces.

I've tried to lay off Keane a bit. He is what he is and, at 31, he's not going to get any better than he is now. I don't doubt his commitment, I just wish he wouldn't watch the ball go over his head so much.

Jarrad is still very young and will get bullied but he generally stands up to it well. Like all young players and footballers, he will make mistakes along the way, so let's be patient with him. He has the perfect mentor in Tarkowski next to him. Well, as good as we can have right now.

Wait until he is about 26. He's going to be something. You can see it now.

Branthwaite — £15,000 per week

Everton have tended to pick players to play according to the wages they pay them, until it becomes apparent that they were never worth the contract they signed. But picking them can go on a little longer hoping that some other fool will come in and offer something and be prepared to pay their full wages. This has never happened.

Put another way, who is going to tell Moshiri, a so-called accountant, that a player we paid all that money in fees and contract for i a dude? There are a number of players with Everton who are picked on that criteria.

Good Luck to Branthwaite. Resilience and ability to long way, and deservingly so.

Lazy coaching and no safety net sees more talent leaving the game than making the grade. Not everyone can make it but we are losing talent just on the law of averages alone.

Jarrad's growing pains in his knees are a common thing which can rumble on for years. Lots of teams won't be bothered and just move on to a kid that isn't injured.

Surprise, surprise. John Doolan, the scout in question, now works for Brighton. A local lad who was a Blue and knows the game inside out walks away. Mick Doherty was another that went to Chelsea I think.

We have a system that produces resilient footballers; we don't have a system that produces world-class talent.

How can Croatia, Uruguay or Holland keep producing world-class talent? Whilst we keep producing Jordan Henderson types?

It's only the likes of Guardiola with his coaching team that is having the major influence on producing talent in the English game.

He is and will be a great player; well done to him and his family for giving themselves the chance.

Let's enjoy him for the remaining 10 games we can afford to have him.

Don't start me!!

I had first hand experience in Germany, Croatia and Holland.

Totally different philosophy with focus on the football.

The Germans a bit different as they are sort of what we would like to be. Physical but technical and comfortable on the ball. My word, having played there, the man marking was relentless. You literally got followed around the pitch.

It goes back to whether the academy system in it's current guise is fit for purpose in my opinion and does it serve football and grass roots or lends itself to the elitism that the Premier League has established?

There is plenty of talent out there, although I do dismay watching the so called coaching on the parks.

The aim should be to keep the kids interested in football at whatever level. A very low percentage will make it to the top, but there are plenty of clubs at various levels with places for talented youngsters and then can enjoy the game and maybe work their way up the pyramid.

Too many drop out if they don't get their dream having played too much Playstation and watched Sky.

Apologies for my cynicism.

Just enjoy football, the beautiful game. I still do.

It doesn't mean I totally agree with the academy system, because I don't, especially because I sometimes perceive there to be a lack of innovation and this constant need to just mould these young players into a system, and this makes me relate to your paragraphs two & three!

John Dolan, born a blue, raised a blue, played for Everton's younger teams, had a successful career in the lower divisions, and yet chose to leave Everton for Brighton. What does this tell us about the way the club has been getting run on the recruitment side?

You act like we are the only ones who control the clauses of the Gordon deal.

If we put the clause that we receive something if Gordon gets called up, then Newcastle have every right to lower the up-front price.

It really has nothing to do with being well run but who is in a position of power during negotiations. I not only believe we were not in that position of power but we should not want to leave any money on the table in a situation where we are trying to prove we didn't lose any money that year.

Now that would be running the club poorly. Being forced to sell a player to balance the books and you accept a credit. Dear me.

I think the case with John Dolan and Everton was that Everton gave John a promotion, a word change promotion, when John asked them what the wage rise was they told him the wages were staying as they were but his title was changing.

Brighton wanted John and he didn't have a hard choice to make!!

Everton is a great club and we all hope that eventually we will bring back the success of the past, starting with the new stadium.

It seems Jarrad was handled very well as a youth, as so many boys are permanently damaged by overplaying in their teens. A move to a big rich club at some time in the future will be probably best for the player and for Everton, given our financial mismanagement in recent years. Sad, as I am old enough to remember when we were the ones hoovering up smaller clubs' talent.

In other news, Real Madrid are the latest to show an interest in Jarrad Branthwaite but seem to want to part-exchange some of their unwanted players as part of the deal.

If we simply get repetition of what has gone before, then the lad should be wanting out as soon as possible as we will be holding him back.

Hopefully the mindset is right in spite of any frictions that may have been evident during the last 3 weeks.

However, I cannot see any more prospects like him coming through our youth setup. Why?

Because we bought him, we didn't bring him through. I mean where are the tons of scousers all dying to play for the badge?

Our academy is not fit for purpose, that's why our scouts left.

And that's why he'll go to the top and that's why we'll end up with Micheal Keane as first choice next season.

Depressing and inevitable.