Jarrad Branthwaite faces battle to save Everton's present so he can become their future

Through a testing start to the season for Everton, the emergence of Jarrad Branthwaite has been a positive.

The Blues have yet to keep a clean sheet but few would argue the 21-year-old has not been a bright spark amid a difficult opening to the campaign.

He represents a core of young players a future Everton could be built around. But for the time being, Branthwaite is concentrating on the task of stabilising the Blues' present. And those around him, from his manager Sean Dyche to his centre-back partner James Tarkowski, have been impressed by what they have seen.

“He’s calm, technically very good, physical and quick,” Tarkowski said after the recent win at Brentford. “His size. He’s got everything to go to the very top at the game, especially for his age. I didn’t see too much of him last season, so this is my first real look and I’ve been really impressed.”

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The sight of Branthwaite stretching out a long leg to sweep the ball from an attacker’s feet or calmly stepping out of defence to intercept a pass before carrying the ball forward - as he did to start the move for Everton’s first goal at Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup - has been a rare feature of comfort since he broke into the first team.

He looks like he has the potential to become a Rolls Royce of a centre-back and his confidence and composure under the gaze of thousands of watching supporters and millions on TV mark him out as a different player to the one who finished Frank Lampard’s survival-clinching season in the first team.

Branthwaite's start against Wolverhampton Wanderers in August