Everton’s “monster” should be next captain after Tarkowski

Everton’s Jordan Pickford started in front of the netting as England defeated Albania on Friday evening.

Thomas Tuchel’s at the wheel, his era has begun. Pickford is England’s first-choice goalkeeper and rightly so, having spent so many years between the sticks, starring across the Three Lions’ last four major tournaments.

The decision to start the 31-year-old insinuated Pickford has retained his top status after Sir Gareth Southgate’s era concluded and Lee Carsley led on an interim basis for a while.

He’s one of Everton’s standout players, a leader and a dependable force of good, through the best and worst times the Toffees have seen since he was signed from Sunderland for a club-record £30m fee in 2017.

It’s brilliant his services have been retained for so many years, but how many more?

Jordan Pickford’s Everton future

Pickford is contracted to Everton until the end of the 2026/27 campaign, but if his form remains at a satisfactory level, Moyes will be sure to urge incoming Director of Football Angus Kinnear to tie him down for a longer period.

Pickford’s time at Everton has been peppered with rumours of interest from other clubs. Only last summer, Chelsea had their sights set on the shot-stopper.

Against Albania, Pickford didn’t need to make a single save but still barked at his defenders, taking 30 touches and completing three of his six attempted long balls, as per Sofascore.

All of an Everton persuasion will hope he remains at the club for many more seasons, and while he’s a “real leader” – as said by Everton writer Ell Bretland – it may be another member of Moyes’ squad who takes the captaincy in the future.

Moyes’ next Everton captain

Pickford might seem like the obvious choice to take the armband when the time to make changes comes, but there’s a younger and more malleable option who deserves a shot.

Seamus Coleman is the current club captain, but the 36-year-old stalwart has only started two matches in the Premier League this season has injuries take him in a suffocating vice.

Thus, James Tarkowski, 32, has deputised throughout the lion’s share of the campaign, starting as he has across each of Everton’s 29 top-flight fixtures this term. In fact, he hasn’t missed a minute.

However, the £100k-per-week Tarkowski’s getting on himself and is out of a deal at the end of the 2025/26 campaign. Will his deal be renewed as Moyes looks to inject new avidity into the team, taking them to new places and with a fresh look about them?

You may have an inkling who it might be. Indeed, having gone from strength to strength over the past several seasons, Jarrad Branthwaite is the perfect man to succeed the current on-field hegemony when the time comes.

The 22-year-old has been at Everton since January 2020, when he left Carlisle United in League Two to join the Toffees for a £1m fee.

After a fringe role and a loan spell at PSV Eindhoven in Holland, Branthwaite has become a staple of the backline over the last two Premier League seasons, with talent scout Jacek Kulig even hailing him as an “absolute monster” at the back.

Crowned Everton’s Young Player of the Year for 2023/24, the England international is on the fast-track toward becoming one of his nation’s pre-eminent defensive forces, endowed with the powerful physicality and athletic grace to start in Tuchel’s England set-up for many years.

He’s a focal part of the backline and a leader by example. He exemplifies the football Moyes wishes to play, and it’s for this reason he should be handed the captaincy as well as the baton when Tarkowski does end his time at the club.

As you can see from the rising star’s collected data across the campaign, he’s a crisp and committed defender, also bearing an impressive success rate in the pass despite Everton’s ostensible odds with ball-playing football.

He’s also a left-footer, an evergreen super-strength for central defenders, instilling a backline with balance and fluency that not all can boast.

Branthwaite actually ranks among the top 2% of central defenders in the Premier League this season for clearances made per 90, as per FBref, further underscoring his athletic ability and alertness to danger.

He doesn’t shy away from danger. The 6 foot 5 colossus takes responsibility and merges wonderfully with Tarkowski in the rearguard, providing Pickford with the perfect defensive line to mitigate his responsibility between the sticks.

Given Branthwaite is set to star as a defensive force for many years, likely plying his trade at the highest level well beyond Tarkowski and Pickford, it makes perfect sense for him to be given the armband, incentivising him to stay at Bramley Moore and reject potential interest from the likes of Manchester United in the future.

Tarkowski has been described as the “perfect leader and mentor for Jarrad Branthwaite” by journalist Zach Lowy. When he finishes up on Merseyside in the coming years, Branthwaite can surely step straight into his boots, taking his partner’s armband too.

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