MEDIA WATCH

What The Papers Say - 17 February

The views on this page are taken from the local and national media and do not necessarily reflect the views of Everton.

Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite says he would open to extending his time in the Netherlands, but says his long-term future remains with the Blues.

The 20-year-old is in fine form with PSV Eindhoven, scoring three goals in his past two outings.

Speaking to Dutch outlet Voetbal International, Branthwaite said: "I am really enjoying myself here, so I would definitely consider a longer stay at PSV.

"We’ll see if it works out, my contract at Everton still runs until 2025. That is still a long time and they will undoubtedly have a plan with me as well.

"But I’m not focusing on it. I’m at PSV now, I want to perform as well as I can and keep developing. We’ll see what happens, it’s something for later this season and not for now."

Everton manager Sean Dyche revealed in his press conference on Thursday that he had spoken to Branthwaite over the phone to introduce himself, but did not reveal the full contents of the conversation.

Also discussed in the same press conference was the progress of Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Dyche confirmed Everton's number 9 would miss this weekend's Premier League encounter with Leeds United.

Quoted in the Liverpool Echo, the Blues boss is keen to ensure every avenue is explored in order to get the 25-year-old feeling his best.

He explained: “I’m speaking to Dominic, speaking to the medics, the sports science team, getting the stats and facts, training programmes, distance covered, high speed running, how many kilometres in a week, what’s his diet like, what’s his lifestyle like, what car does he drive, what mattress does he use, how many hours does he sleep at night," he told the press.

"That’s learning about people but the biggest thing is what’s in here (points to his head), that’s the hard part.

“I can’t do it all one on one, we have groups with lots of skilled specialists and get all the information I can and share it with him and ask ‘how are you feeling?’

“It’s the same process for all the players through things I’ve learned over my career. I didn’t know stuff like that when I was a player, you had maybe two of those factors.”