Manchester United thrashed Everton 4-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday in Ruben Amorim’s first home league game as the Red Devils climbed up to ninth in the Premier League table.
The Portuguese will be pleased with the goalscoring exploits of Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee, both of whom have faced criticism and have been linked with exits.
The players displayed intensity as demanded by the coach and just like in the game against Bodo/Glimt, they forced the opposition into making an error and capitalised from it.
The second goal of the game, netted by the Netherlands international, saw Amad Diallo, who was the standout performer on the day, pinch the ball of Jarrad Branthwaite before passing it to Zirkzee to score.
Jarrad had a nightmare
Before the first goal, the Toffees were quite good on the ball and were winning all the duels with the England international enjoying himself at the back, and even made a couple of good blocks.
But he was also to blame for the first of the game which came from a set-piece. The corner found Rashford on the edge of the box and his side-footed volley took a terrible deflection of the defender before going in.
And as revealed by former long-term Everton scout Bryan King, Sunday’s display might just signal the end of United’s pursuit of the 22-year-old.
United had made two bids for the Toffees star in the summer, both of which were rejected as the Merseyside club wanted £80 million for his services.
A quality player can certainly not be judged based on one game but INEOS will have taken notes and the game will have further cemented the fact that Branthwaite is certainly not worth the amount being quoted by Everton.
Huge mistakes
“I can’t imagine that deal is going to go forward now. He looked very poor, certainly not an £80 million player, that is for sure. Looking at his performance against United, they could certainly end their interest in him,” King told Goodison News.
“Branthwaite was all over the place against United. He was very ordinary, he got caught out so many times. That really could affect the interest from United.”
Whether INEOS return for him next summer remains to be seen with Everton keen to keep him at the club for longer. They will reject all January approaches for the Englishman.
Lots of other elite clubs are also in the race. Whether Sunday’s display will dissuade others as well will be worth keeping an eye on.
Feature image Alex Livesey via Getty Images
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Ayantan Chowdhury
Ayantan has worked for 10 years in the Indian sports media industry, writing for the biggest newspapers and websites but his heart was always set on writing about his favourite club. Currently an editor at The Peoples Person. You can follow him on X: @ayantanc_25
