I don't pay much heed to these rumours and still think that whilst we'll sign some players more known than others, Brands in particular will be looking to add a couple of more relatively obscure names.
For this supposed new model to work properly, we need to be bringing in players in their early twenties, at fees no bigger than 10-20 million, which counts as cheap these days, that would be ready for the first team and in an inflationary market, we get lucky and at least one of them succeeds to the extent their value doubles or more after a year.
This is where a DOF should earn their stripes, there is nothing more satisfying than signing a player most of us have never heard of who goes to to be more than worth the investment and plays a big part in the team. We just won't get that value in signing domestic players, RLC being the latest linked. Paying big money for him makes no sense in the context of having to lower the wage bill and make us leaner financially.
Brands and Silva will have to look to Europe and South America and bring in players good enough now, and with potential for a high re-sale value. This is where Walsh objectively failed, perhaps with the exception of Gana, and potentially with Lookman. We won't have the luxury of spending 30-50m for each position that requires strengthening, we have to be far more creative and employ a truly global scouting system.
