Brian Brobbey to West Ham a DISASTER waiting to happen

Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk

25 Jan 2025 19:48 GMT
2 min read

Brian Brobbey’s transfer to West Ham United from Ajax is a disaster waiting to happen, according to Frank de Boer.

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The former Ajax coach can’t get his head around the fact that the Premier League side are willing to pay more than €30 million for the striker.

"Goals?! He has scored one goal,” De Boer told Viaplay on Saturday, referring to the striker’s Eredivisie record this season.

STATS

Brian Brobbey

F (C)

Ajax

Brian Brobbey

F (C)

Ajax

15

Games
1

Goals
3

Assists

The former Netherlands international wonders how Brobbey will be able to succeed in the Premier League after struggling in the Netherlands this season. And he is downright critical of the forward’s performances this season and has serious doubts that these will improve in England.

“I find it unbelievable. If you can only score one goal in the Eredivisie, I find that very, very poor, to be honest,” he said.

De Boer stressed that the difference in level between the Eredivisie and the Premier League is enormous.

“If you can’t do it in the Eredivisie… the Premier League is such a big difference. How many times have we not heard of strikers who left for the Premier League?” he said.

Although Brobbey scored 18 goals in the Eredivisie last season, De Boer seems to attach little value to those performances. According to him, the striker is far from his top form. “In my eyes, he did well for one year,” the ex-Crystal Palace man said.

Current ETV

Brian Brobbey

A (C)

Ajax

Brian Brobbey

A (C)

Ajax

ETV Range

€12.1M - €20.1M

“At the moment I only see him lying on the ground… And he always stands still. He always stands still.”

Not only has Brobbey become less dangerous, he has also shown a lack of dynamism and movement in his game, according to De Boer.

Ajax not playing to Brobbey's strengths?

Fellow analyst Cedric van der Gun did offer some defence of the striker.

“In that period when he scored a lot of goals in the Eredivisie, he also showed a lot of depth when there was space behind the defence,” Van der Gun said.

“So the question is that if he is not showing that form now, is that only his fault or is the coach not doing enough to get the best out of him,” he said.

With this remark, Van der Gun also points to the role of the Ajax technical staff in Brobbey's disappointing performances. The question is therefore whether Brobbey will be able to live up to the expectations in the Premier League, if the transfer actually goes through.

According to data analytics experts SciSports, a move to West Ham would be an excellent decision for the striker because the style of the Premier League side should suit his game.