Last month, Everton appointed Kevin Thelwell as their new director of football, the former Wolves chief stepping into a Marcel Brands-shaped hole behind the scenes at Goodison Park.
But, as his predecessor will be at pains to point out, control, at Everton, is not easily wielded. After all, this sorry Everton squad might look very different right now if Farhad Moshiri had not shoved Brands into the shadows while bowing down at Rafa Benitez’s feet.
Here are five changes Brands could, and perhaps would, have made, if given the power to do so.
Graham Potter
After the sudden departure of Carlo Ancelotti last summer, Brands obviously felt that Everton needed a forward-thinking replacement. A bright-eyed coach capable of unifying a divided fanbase, dragging the club into the modern era and boasting a tactical mind as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel.
So who did Everton end up with? A 61-year-old Liverpool legend of course. A man so unpopular on Gwadlys Street he’d make Sam Allardyce look like Howard Kendall.
According to the Liverpool Echo, Brands wanted Graham Potter rather than Rafa Benitez. Given how the Benitez era panned out – Everton are 11 points behind a Brighton side operating on a fraction of their budget – it’s tempting to wonder how differently this season would look if Moshiri had listened to his increasingly frustrated sporting director.
Denzel Dumfries
The Liverpool Echo claim that Brands was intent on bringing his former PSV captain to Merseyside even before Dumfries’ dazzling performances at Euro 2020.
But Benitez said ‘no’ – a sign of things to come as the divide between manager and director continued to cause problems behind the scenes.
The rampaging right-back is now one of the first names on the Inter Milan team sheet, stepping into Achraf Hakimi’s shoes for the reigning Scudetto holders.
Tino Livramento
Another right-back Brands wanted. Another right-back Benitez rejected.
According to The Athletic, Brands encouraged Everton to sign a teenager without a single Premier League appearance under his belt last summer. Benitez, however, wanted someone with a proven track record in the English top-flight and Livramento ended up joining Southampton for £5 million instead.
A staggering 14 years younger than the exhausted and overworked Seamus Coleman, this is a decision Everton could come to regret for years to come.
Alex Iwobi
Let us be clear, Brands was hired by Everton to oversee recruitment, to introduce a considered, thought plan, like the one he perfected at PSV Eindhoven. When he signed on the dotted line, he probably didn’t expect to see Everton sign a player against his wishes, in the dying seconds of deadline day, for an initial £28 million.
The Echo claims that Brands never expected Everton to stump up such a staggering fee for Alex Iwobi after missing out on their number one target, Wilfried Zaha.
Three years after Moshiri forced through one of the worst pound-for-pound deals in recent Premier League history, it’s tempting to wonder how much Everton would recoup if they placed Iwobi on the transfer list now.
They’d be lucky to get half back.
Luis Diaz
Perhaps the most painful ‘what if’ moment of all. This time, at least, Brands had some backing in the boardroom. Everton submitted a £25 million bid for the Porto talisman towards the end of the summer transfer window. Diaz was keen on the move too.
But, once again, Moshiri’s inability to say ‘no’ to a big name manager proved to be Everton’s undoing. The signing of £200,000-a-week James Rodriguez – at Ancelotti’s request – eventually caused the Diaz deal to collapse some 12 months later. Rodriguez, after all, was supposed to return to Porto as part of the deal, only for his monstrous wages to rip up all the groundwork.
Diaz would move to Merseyside for a cool £37 million a few months later. Unfortunately for Everton supporters, he’s now wearing red rather than blue.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
