Manchester City have clinched the signature of Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite ahead of Manchester United.

The Premier League champions have decided to splash the cash on the 21-year-old, who has been closely tracked by their Manchester rivals for quite some time.

Over the last few years, the Cityzens have been involved in a lot of transfer battles with United, having reportedly made moves for the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Harry Maguire and Cristiano Ronaldo.

However, on those occasions, Pep Guardiola‘s side ended their interest. They weren’t actually that keen on signing those players but they knew full well that United were prepared to pay well over the odds for them just because their rivals had made a move too.

Guardiola is keen to have a whole team of centre-backs

Over the past few years, the City manager has recruited a whole host of centre-halves, with the last being Josko Gvardiol, who joined from RB Leipzig for £77.6m last year.

Despite paying such a sizeable sum, though, Guardiola insists that he is better deployed at left-back. It is believed that his ultimate aim is to have centre-backs playing in all positions, having witnessed the versatility of John Stones who has been selected at right-back, in central midfield and as a no.10.

Could Branthwaite replace City’s star man up front?

Due to the Everton player’s height, it is assumed that Guardiola will consider starting him ahead of Erling Haaland in the no.9 position. With the City boss looking to field a full team of centre-halves, it does seem the most logical solution.

However, it does mean that, despite scoring 29 goals in all competitions this campaign, Haaland may have to settle for a place on the bench.

This deal will take place at the beginning of a future transfer window, or perhaps not. As you may have gathered, this is an April Fool’s story. Have a good day and don’t believe everything you read on the internet!