Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite is convinced his game is improving on-loan with PSV Eindhoven.

The 20-year-old, who made six Premier League appearances last season, scored in a 4-3 win for PSV over rivals Feyenoord last weekend and has completed the full 90 minutes in two of the opening seven top-flight fixtures of the current campaign.

Branthwaite says the presence of former Everton football chief Marcel Brands was key to the move: “Marcel signed me from Carlisle for Everton and we've had a really good connection since then, not just with me but my agent and family as well. Once he phoned me and said PSV wanted me to come, it was a no-brainer. I have trust in him and it's a great club."

“I'm really liking it," added the Blues loanee on his temporary move. "It's a good club, a family club, everyone's close together. It took a bit of time settling in, moving to a different country, but I'm getting used to my surroundings now.

“It was hard at first. I was living on my own in England for two years [when at Everton], but I could nip up the road to see my family. Now it's completely different. It's a different mentality sometimes, a bit lonely, but something you get used to and you find things to put your time in, and a couple of the players have been helping me out as well."

Asked where he sees himself being in five years' time, he responded: "Hopefully back at my parent club, Everton, and playing in the Premier League regularly.

"I will be 24/25, so that is the age when you're in your prime. The biggest challenge is getting the game time to progress, to get to that level. That is the reason why I have come here [PSV], to play as many as games as I can to help me in the future. Playing out from the back is a big thing here and that will help me when I go back and will be natural to me."