Loads of Everton fans have been reacting on social media after Director of Football Marcel Brands discussed the club’s transfer policy.
The Dutchman, speaking at Tuesday’s General Meeting, claimed that the first-team has a great deal more talent and depth than when he arrived in 2018, though accepted that more work is needed for the club to achieve our ambitions.
Brands has overseen 63 transactions across the three transfer windows since his arrival, and was reappointed to the Everton board following a vote between shareholders at this week’s AGM.
The number of arrivals at Goodison Park during Brands’ time on Merseyside could even have been higher had we not missed out on signing Chelsea’s Kurt Zouma last summer, though adding Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha was never a realistic target.
“Of course, we missed [out on] Kurt Zouma but in the end, we could not loan him again [and] we could not buy him,” Brands said, via quotes by the Liverpool Echo.
“We looked for some other replacements, but in the end, we only decided to go for a player that we could 100% support in our club and we couldn’t find that, and we don’t want to spend money on a player that we were not fully agreed on.
“Look at last summer,” Brands added. “From the start, there was a lot of rumours and news that we would like to take Zaha.
“And if you see our numbers then you know it is not realistic for Everton to buy a player for £60m, £70m, £80m. So that kind of expectation is sometimes a different kind of expectation for fans and it is not realistic and we have to manage that.”
Has Brands done a good job as Director of Football?
Yes
No
Brands acknowledges that failing to sign a centre-half left a gap in the first-team, but hopes to soon be in a position where the club only needs to add a few quality additions having been the most active Premier League side last summer.
“It was necessary in order to put the club closer to the position we should be moving forward – but it is too high a number,” Brands noted, in quotes by the club’s official website.
“There remains much work to be done – and the impact of that work may not be apparent immediately.
“It is my aim in the future to get us to a position where we are looking at only a couple of deals each transfer window to develop and improve our squad.”
Here are some of the messages shared as fans reacted to Brands’ statement of intent to whittle down the club’s expenditure, and notion that the first-team has more quality and depth than at the time of his arrival…
How can it be! Spent £450 !
season over in January made a loss of £110 million 🤡🤡 beat by Liverpool reserves— Everton supporters club EP&C (@EFC_Eport) January 15, 2020
Still should have got a CB and a striker. We’ve been crying out for one since Lukaku. That’s the main priority.
— Martin Smyth (@Smyther17) January 14, 2020
Gonna be working for a long time then
— Elliot🦑 (@ElliotB1878) January 14, 2020
Strength in depth is he having a laugh. The bloke has alot to prove to me. That’s just MY opinion.
— ian farrant (@ianfarrant01) January 14, 2020
Still a lot yet to do, but a squad rebuild takes time.
— EvertonNorway (@EvertonNorway) January 14, 2020
Don’t think he’s heard of Morgan and gylfi
— Michael (@CarloMagnific0) January 14, 2020
No confidence whatsoever in this fraud
— markyg griffith (@MarkygGriffith) January 14, 2020
Agree with that but there’s still a lot more work to do. This squad still isn’t good enough, a few more players need to go and a a few brought in
— 🇮🇹 Tom (@CarIoMagnifico) January 14, 2020
Joking arnt ya, the league is worse now and we still mike’s off
— Stewart Carroll NSNO 💙💙💙 (@stewart35539171) January 14, 2020
Biggest loss to the squad was Gana Gueye. Some improvements in other areas but he’s been missed massively
— Adam Barker (@AdamBarker82) January 14, 2020
In other Everton news, the club have reportedly made a formal bid to sign a 41-cap midfielder this month.