Tottenham and Manchester United will now have to pay £100m to sign 21-year-old in January

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Ahead of the January transfer window it seems as if both Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United would benefit from the arrival of a central defender.

Both Ange Postecoglou and Erik ten Hag have had their difficulties at centre-back this year, mostly owing to unfortunate injuries.

Micky van de Ven and Lisandro Martinez are two of the finest left-footed centre-backs in the league, players who would be missed by any side.

And with that in mind, both clubs have now been monitoring the future of Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite.

According to iNews, Borussia Dortmund have also joined Tottenham and United in their January interest.

And seemingly to act as a deterrent, Everton have now placed a huge £100m price tag on Branthwaite for the foreseeable future.

Although the youngster has impressed under Sean Dyche, buoyed by a loan in The Netherlands, it’s a steep price.

Branthwaite is still very early in his Premier League career, even if he’s showing a lot of promise.

And as a result of this asking price, it now seems very unlikely that his blossoming partnership with James Tarkowski will be disrupted.

Everton want £100m for Tottenham and Man United target Jarrad Branthwaite in January

Although United only seem likely to make minor adjustments to their squad in January, Tottenham could be very busy.

Ange Postecoglou hasn’t had an awful lot of time to shape his squad since he arrived, with the summer being a very interrupted one.

The Harry Kane saga took a lot of the attention and wasn’t resolved until late in the window.

As a result, fans will expect that Daniel Levy has a clear plan of execution for January – one that is unlikely to include spending such a sum on Jarrad Branthwaite.

Despite his talent, £100m simply isn’t good value for a player at his stage of his career.

If they do act in January it seems very likely that both Tottenham and United will look for significantly less expensive deals.

And Spurs may now have been handed a boost with one £40m target now very keen to join the side.