by Jarrad Branthwaite may make his senior England debut against Brazil on Saturday, against stars such as Vinicius Jr and Endrick, and it is from this point that his remarkable career must now be measured. Last summer he was on the bench for England Under-21s watching others play ahead of him; go back another four years and Branthwaite was ready to retire from football altogether.
The 15-year-old was playing for his local club, Carlisle United, on the verge of losing his academy contract after struggling with tendinitis for 18 months. Carlisle offered one final four-week trial to allow him to regain his place. It was his parents who encouraged their teenage son to give football one last try, with an arm around the shoulder and a kick up the backside.
“If it wasn’t for my mum and dad, I probably wouldn’t be continuing. In my mind I was thinking, ‘if they don’t want me now, what will be done in four weeks?’. But my father gave me a training program, and I stuck to that, and he helped me get a scholarship.”
Branthwaite has no idea what he would do without football, and laughs at the thought that a northern lad might be joining the army instead. “I don’t think so,” he said. “All I wanted to do when I was young was football, football, football, and that happened. I didn’t know where I’d be, and then that’s where my dad stepped in and basically said, come with me…”
He is sitting in a quiet room at St George’s Park, discussing his path from Cumbria to Wembley. Footballers often differ from the character you see on the pitch, but Branthwaite displays the same qualities that make him an exceptional young defender: composure, calm self-assurance, with that formidable physical presence.
Everything happened at lightning speed. Carlisle kept at it and within three months he was playing in the first team, aged 16, under manager Steven Pressley, who Branthwait still talks to today. “I wasn’t that tall, and I was also very skinny,” he remembers. “When you come up against League Two strikers who are tall and strong it’s difficult, but that’s where you learn. The manager believed in me.”
A professional contract followed, and then Everton came calling.
“I think I only played 15 games in League Two, so it was a big step up,” he says. “I went and sat down with Everton, and the path they were giving me, it seemed perfect.”
Everton loaned him to Blackburn and then to Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, under manager Ruud van Nistelrooy. The move took Branthwaite out of his comfort zone – here was a young man living alone in a foreign country, trying to learn the language and make friends. He eventually achieved a consistent run in a team that won the Dutch Cup on penalties, a happy memory even if he scored an own goal in the final.
“It was huge, I think that’s where it started,” Branthwaite says of his time at PSV. “I went abroad and had new life experiences. I think it has made me more of a man and enabled me to come back to the Premier League and play regularly after being abroad. I was 20 at the time and you have to learn by yourself, stand on your own two feet. No one else is going to help you.”
This year has been a breakout campaign for Branthwaite in the Premier League, establishing himself alongside James Tarkowski in Everton’s defence. The stats show a defender leading Europe in terms of winning duels, and it’s easy to see why. He is tall with a wide frame and a huge leg span that provides the speed that is increasingly necessary for centre-backs at the highest level.
Those qualities meant that his recent match with Erling Haaland was a fair fight, and not many defenders can say that. Branthwaite played brilliantly at the Etihad Stadium, but in the crucial moment he slipped, and Haaland scored.
“Obviously it was a great experience playing against him. I think you always have to be on. He doesn’t come short to the ball, or come into play, he stays on his back shoulder and will make the run. And when he gets a sniff of the goal, he’s head down and he’s powerful, and you can see in the goal he scores. I got a little too tight, hit my feet and scored. You learn from those experiences that happen in games and I will learn next time.”
The trip took him to England and possibly a start, just three months before Euro 2024 kicks off. Branthwaite is up against more established names for a place in Gareth Southgate’s tournament squad, but his left foot makes him something different. available and is not out of the question, with a convincing performance in the coming days and more of the same in the Premier League. , that he could push his way into the final 23.
“[Southgate] He told me after the season I’ve had, I’m here on merit with the performances I’ve put in. He told me to come in and be confident and do what I would do at club level for England … If you want to He said at the start of the season I would be in the England squad then I probably wouldn’t believe it, but that’s where I am now and I am very happy to be here.
“For me it’s just a matter of focusing on the best performances I can give to be in contention for that squad. I think it’s a good time to be in the squad now so close to the Euros, but all I can do is perform to the highest standard and give myself the best chance.”
