'Strange' - Sean Dyche confirms Jarrad Branthwaite setback as Everton injury update given

Sean Dyche has admitted Jarrad Branthwaite’s return to fitness has been longer than Everton initially expected.

The centre-back enjoyed an outstanding 2023-24 campaign as he became a Toffees regular. Branthwaite made a total of 41 appearances and scored three goals - which saw him named Young Player and Players’ Player of the Season. He also broke into England’s senior debut but was not part of their Euro 2024 squad.

Branthwaite required minor groin surgery at the start of the summer, however, which him ruled him out of the pre-season fixture programme. And he’s still to make a playing return and his presence has been missed, with Everton losing all four of their opening Premier League fixtures which leaves them bottom of the table.

Branthwaite is back in training but Everton are being careful with him. They’re taking a similar approach with Nathan Patterson, who required hamstring surgery in April and is still to feature. Via The Athletic, Goodison Park boss Dyche said: “He had a couple of hiccups which can happen with secondary injuries - they can be a real pain.

"Patto similar, maybe more precautionary. It was quite a nasty injury. Jarrad has been longer than we’d hoped but the body is strange"

Speaking to Everton’s club website, Dyche said on the pair ahead of tonight’s Carabao Cup third-round tie against Southampton: "The challenge we've got with [getting Jarrad Branthwaite and Nathan Patterson back to being available] – more so with Patto, who has had a different kind of injury and a longer-term injury – is that they've been out for 12/13/14/15 weeks, maybe even more in Patto's case, then usually you'd have a six-week break in the off-season, then a five-week pre-season, ideally probably playing two lots of 90 minutes [in that time].

"Fast-tracking players, in my experience, doesn't end well, so we want to fast-track them but cleverly fast-track them – not just push them through games programmes they're not capable of. They need to come into the side when they're fit, properly fit, because you can't deliver performances in the Premier League unless you're properly fit. I've experienced enough to know when you've short-tracked people into the team, they find it very difficult to find their form.”