Odds slashed on player to join Liverpool in move that nobody saw coming

Odds have slashed on one surprise player to join Liverpool before the end of the summer transfer window.

Liverpool kickstarted their Arne Slot era with a hard-fought victory over newly-promoted Ipswich Town on Saturday afternoon.

Second-half goals from Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah were enough to seal a 2-0 win for the Reds.

Heading into the new season, Liverpool are the only team in the Premier League yet to bring in any new players.

Over the last couple of weeks, it was revealed that Liverpool were interested in signing Real Sociedad star Martin Zubimendi, only for the Spaniard to reject a move to Anfield.

Now, with the transfer window edging closer to an end, odds have slashed on Jarrad Branthwaite to make a shock move from Everton to Liverpool.

Throughout the summer, the defender had been constantly linked with Manchester United, who reportedly had two bids for the 22-year-old rejected.

According to Sky Bet, Branthwaite is 2/1 to join Liverpool ahead of United(3/1). Odds were accurate at the time of writing.

Sky Bet

Speaking about potentially losing Branthwaite, Everton boss Sean Dyche said: “I'm confident that the club are going to do the best they can to make sure we’re competitive.

“But, equally, the club's got an outside picture which is quite obvious and that’s not something I can control.”

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He added: “They do need to balance the finances better, we've done a lot of work with that since I've been here, and Kev [Thelwell] obviously is included in that, on the playing side to bring money in and lower the wage bill. We've done a pretty fair job, I would say of that, but the bigger picture of the club is dependent on what money is needed at any given time.”

Branthwaite was not involved as Everton fell to a 3-0 defeat against Brighton and Hove Albion at Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon.