toffeeblue9
Player Valuation: £35m
In posting about Onyekuru in another thread, I got to thinking that with 12 months behind us since we parted ways with Steve Walsh, I wonder if his success (or lack thereof) as Director of Football here is worth reconsidering.
We know, from what has been said since, that Walsh's job (unlike Brands') was solely focused around the recruitment of players. So to judge him, you'd focus solely on that. In Walsh's time here, we signed the following players... (taken from TransferLeague)
There are still some unmitigated disasters in that list. Klaassen (who we took a big hit on), Bolasie, Williams and Sandro all stand out. I'd also argue that Rooney, Walcott, Tosun and Schnederlin didn't give us value for money, although they weren't necessarily in the "disaster" category.
But, on the flip side, Idrissa Gueye was one of the best bits of business we have done in recent years. Keane and Pickford have proven to be worth the kind of money we spent on them. Sigurdsson, whilst overpriced, has proven to be a good addition. And then when you look at the younger prospects we invested in under Walsh - the likes of Lookman, Vlasic and Gibson, you start to see some real value.
I don't think you'll ever be able to argue that Walsh was a success, but I'm beginning to think he maybe wasn't quite the utter disaster I thought he was a year ago. In fact I think that Koeman was possibly the more destructive constituent part of the whole affair.
Anyway, that wasted a few minutes...
We know, from what has been said since, that Walsh's job (unlike Brands') was solely focused around the recruitment of players. So to judge him, you'd focus solely on that. In Walsh's time here, we signed the following players... (taken from TransferLeague)
Season 17/18 | |
Davy Klaassen | £23,600,000 |
Jordan Pickford | £25,000,000 |
Nathangelo Markelo | undisclosed |
Michael Keane | £25,000,000 |
Sandro | £5,200,000 |
Henry Onyekuru | £7,000,000 |
Wayne Rooney | Free |
Josh Bowler | £1,500,000 |
Lewis Gibson | £6,000,000 |
Nikola Vlašić | £10,000,000 |
Boris Mathis | Free |
Cuco Martina | Free |
Gylfi Sigurdsson | £45,000,000 |
Dennis Adeniran | undisclosed |
Theo Walcott | £20,000,000 |
Cenk Tosun | £27,000,000 |
Season 16/17 | |
Maarten Stekelenburg | £1,000,000 |
Idrissa Gueye | £7,100,000 |
Ashley Williams | £12,000,000 |
Yannick Bolasie | £25,000,000 |
Ademola Lookman | £7,500,000 |
Morgan Schneiderlin | £24,000,000 |
There are still some unmitigated disasters in that list. Klaassen (who we took a big hit on), Bolasie, Williams and Sandro all stand out. I'd also argue that Rooney, Walcott, Tosun and Schnederlin didn't give us value for money, although they weren't necessarily in the "disaster" category.
But, on the flip side, Idrissa Gueye was one of the best bits of business we have done in recent years. Keane and Pickford have proven to be worth the kind of money we spent on them. Sigurdsson, whilst overpriced, has proven to be a good addition. And then when you look at the younger prospects we invested in under Walsh - the likes of Lookman, Vlasic and Gibson, you start to see some real value.
I don't think you'll ever be able to argue that Walsh was a success, but I'm beginning to think he maybe wasn't quite the utter disaster I thought he was a year ago. In fact I think that Koeman was possibly the more destructive constituent part of the whole affair.
Anyway, that wasted a few minutes...