Everton tipped to sack employee after Jarrad Branthwaite leak
Everton are likely to sack an employee if it’s proven the Jarrad Branthwaite leak came from within the club.
Everton were beaten 1-0 by Leeds United in their season-opener on Monday (18 August) at Elland Road.
Lukas Nmecha’s late penalty secured all three points for Daniel Farke’s side following an alleged handball by Everton defender James Tarkowski.
However, David Moyes was dealt a major blow in the build-up to the game after it was revealed Branthwaite would be absent through injury.
The news came out online ahead of the Everton manager’s pre-match press conference on Friday (15 August).
Everton to hire cybersecurity experts after new blow
This article contains exclusive comment from Keith Wyness, former Everton, Aston Villa and Aberdeen CEO.
Moyes admitted the leak is “certainly coming from within our building” as he vowed Everton will put a stop to it.
The Merseysiders are gearing up for their first competitive game at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, where they will face Brighton on Sunday (24 August).
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Wyness said: “I’ve had that issue before when I’ve been chief executive.
“It happened once at Villa. It happened at Everton as well. But when I was at Everton, it was really before the massive growth in social media. But still, it was very active at that time.
“It was a problem, particularly at Villa. What I did, we had to employ some big cybersecurity experts to go in and try and trace the source of this.
“I know Everton will be doing exactly that and bringing in real experts to try and find the source of this. If it is an employee, then they’ll get sacked. I think they’ll have to get sacked.
“If it’s a relative or a friend of an employee, they’ll be able to track that as well in some way, and it’s going to be proper detective work. I mean, you’ve got to take these things seriously.
“Leaking the Branthwaite injury information was ridiculous. I mean, a manager would never like to give away his team until the very last minute, and you don’t give any other team the advantage of being able to play in a certain way.
“Now, in particular, the game on Monday we saw, knowing that Branthwaite wasn’t going to play and that Everton would have had to have changed its back four, probably led Daniel Farke to play a bit wider, which he did and overran some of the Everton defence. That certainly was the case.
“He had time to train and rehearse that, so this information is very valuable.”
Aston Villa stance on John McGinn transfer revealed after Everton swoop
In terms of transfer activity, recruitment expert Mick Brown told Football Insider Aston Villa will dismiss any interest in John McGinn as they have no intention of letting him leave the club.
Everton and Newcastle United have been heavily linked with the Scotland international this summer.
Villa are believed to be open to offers for several key players as they aim to balance the books, but they have no plans to let their captain leave.
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