Sean Dyche has stressed that he won’t put Jarrad Branthwaite back into the first team until he is completely ready so as not to risk the player’s long-term welfare.
Branthwaite is yet to kick a ball in anger for the Blues this season after undergoing a hernia operation over the summer and then suffering a set-back in his recovery.
The 22-year-old’s absence has been keenly felt — last season, Everton had one of the best defensive records in the division but four games into 2024-25, they are the worst team in all of Europe’s top five leagues where that metric is concerned, having shipped 13 goals already.
That has increased the anticipation around Branthwaite’s return, which now appears to be imminent with he and Nathan Patterson scheduled to turn out for the Under-21s this weekend.
Then it will be a case of assessing their respective readiness, with Dyche strongly averse to rushing them back.
“I believe this because my history in the game from the age of 16 has pretty much shown that every player that does that very rarely comes through it and continues playing,” Dyche said in The Mirror.
“So there has to be some sense… and for the player don’t forget. People forget [Jarrad’s] had one season — one big season — in the Premier League, and we have to be fair to the player.
“I have to find fairness and putting players on the football pitch who are either ill or not well or not in the mental state or physical state to play… I have a responsibility of care as well. I won’t do that and I haven’t done that.
“When I speak to a player, I check their stats and facts and see how they are mentally, how they are with their family, check everything: ‘Right how are you feeling?’
“Look at it a different way, why do we do six weeks’ pre-season if every player could just play? There would be no point to it.
“We have a player who’s been out 13 weeks and people say, ‘why aren’t you playing him?’ How does that make sense? Why have six weeks off and six weeks training? You might as well have 11 weeks off and one week’s training.”