Toffees boss Sean Dyche decided to give Branthwaite a rest due to his recurring injury issues this season.
However, the team did not perform, losing the game 1-0 to fellow strugglers Southampton.
Nevin understood the decision, telling the Liverpool Echo: “It’s a no-brainer. For Dyche to even contemplate leaving him out baffles me.
“If Virgil van Dijk got injured for a couple of weeks at Liverpool and his replacement does well, do you think he’ll be sat on the bench? Of course not, he’d come straight back in.”
He then added: “I look at the numbers and a lot of managers go with the numbers now and the lack of goals given in recent weeks has been magnificent, the lads have done well. You’re thinking ‘that’s alright, those numbers are good.’
“The problem at this moment in time is not the center-backs so you fully understand why Sean won’t do it and wants to keep that together. It’s the other side of this that concerns me as Jarrad is a bit better coming out with the ball at his feet and things develop better on the ground because he is that special, he is that good.
“I think he’s just about the best young center-half in Europe. He’s so far ahead of everyone else.
“The last person I said that about was Virgil van Dijk when he was playing at Celtic and I was telling everybody: ‘you’ve got to get this kid, he’s brilliant, he’s phenomenal.’ I feel the same way about Jarrad.”