Jarrad Branthwaite to Liverpool rumours EXPLAINED as betting odds SLASHED

There has never been any credible insight to back up rumours linking Liverpool with a move for Everton's Jarrad Branthwaite, so why should we believe the latest frenzy?

The 22-year-old Toffees centre-back is seen as one of the hottest young talents in the country, a player former Reds boss Jurgen Klopp openly admired in the latter part of his Anfield reign.

And with Virgil van Dijk heading into the final year of his current Anfield contract, and Joe Gomez apparently about to depart Merseyside, you can kind of see why the rumours are coming up again.

On Sunday night bookmakers including Sky Bet and bet365 released updates saying they were slashing their odds for Branthwaite what would be a highly controversial move across Stanley Park - with the latter saying they have him odds-on at 4/5 from 8/1 to be a Liverpool player at the end of the current transfer window.

Why the rumours make zero sense

But anybody getting remotely excited about the prospect of Branthwaite in a red shirt in September should just calm down right now, for a number of reasons.

First of all, perhaps most importantly, the price. Man Utd have already bid twice for Branthwaite, having been quoted a quite outrageous £80m for his services. Not surprisingly, both of their bids appear to have fallen well short.

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When people talk about the 'Man Utd tax', they'd be right - plus every other tax in this case. Branthwaite is young, English, talented and playing in the Premier League.

But don't you think the tax United have been quoted would be just as high for a move to Everton's local rivals? Course it would. And if Liverpool wouldn't pay £50m for a potentially generational talent like Lille's Leny Yoro, would Richard Hughes and the Anfield brains trust pony up £30m more for Branthwaite? We call bulls***.

How betting on football transfers works

The other thing to bear in mind here, and this is important, is the way betting on football transfers works. Basically, it is mostly a marketing ploy by smart firms who know they will get a ton of column inches by quoting odds on big-name moves. They've already had a win here because we are sat here writing this on a Sunday night.

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It does not take massive amounts of money to significantly change the odds on a transfer market. Bookmakers are terrified of the inside information in play, so they normally limit the amount somebody can bet. So a few smallish bets can really change a market big-time.

So while all those general football sites can talk it up all they want, we'll stick to our guns and say this makes zero sense. It goes against all of perceived Merseyside football wisdom for so many reasons. Plain and simple, we are out.