Iwobi
Slomes
Delph
Gbamin - whilst unlucky he's still not contributing to the side any more than Bolasie who suffered a freak injury yet Walsh still gets hammered for that signing
Lossl - signed then went AWOL
Bernard
King - dont think he's been given a fair crack of the whip by the manager but why sign a player who the manager doesn't seem to rate?
Mina - good player but injury prone
Kean - whilst we will make a profit its still been a failure of a signing and the lad had a questionable attitude whilst at the club.
I worked out over 3 years including loan fees fag packet maths Brands has spent around £270-280 million not including a free transfer for Rodriguez.
Walsh spent around £200 million and was punted after 2 years - obviously Brands has been an improvement on Walsh but looking at the squad has the business done been enough to justify him getting a new deal based on that large outlay?
Personally I think him having some weird reputation as being some transfer guru who signs unknown superstars and gems has kept him in the job when in reality I've seen nothing of that in the last 3 years.
No arguments on the first three.
Gbamin - just isn't fair to use this as a stick to beat Brands with. That time may come if he ever gets fit and turns out to be plop anyway (which I'd actually see as more likely than unlikely given his YouTube compilations). Bolasie was at best polarising even without an injury
Lossl and Bernard - free transfers, but in the case of Bernard, the wages mean that's probably a fair shout.
King - Signed as cover. Dunno why everyone gets so annoyed about it. Ancelotti doesn't rate him over DCL or Richarlison, but if they both got injured he'd get a game. That's about it really. He plugs the gap until Kean returns or (more likely) we sign a proper replacement in the summer
Mina - Missed a lot in his first season. Has a good appearance record since then I think?
Kean - Not bothered what anyone says on this, if we sign a player and make a profit on him, it was a good signing. Add Vlasic and Lookman to that category. Even if it hasn't worked out for them here, investing in good young players, loaning them out and selling at profit is a perfectly fine model.
Think the job Brands has done needs to be taken into context - like it or not, the disaster that Walsh and Koeman (and to a lesser extent Allardyce) left behind was always going to take years to put right because nobody is stupid enough to buy players from us without leaving us in a massive FFP hole. For most of them, loaning them out and waiting for the contracts to expire is about the best you could hope for. We are nearly there. Personally I'd be judging Brands more on the next three years than the first three.
