Almost since the culmination of our 2014/15 Championship campaign which of course saw the Canaries restored to the Barclays Premier League, a new name has been engulfed by the transfer rumour tornado nearly every day – now it’s the turn of Robbie Brady.
The 23 year old Irishman completed a £2.2m move to recently relegated Hull City after two consecutive season long spells at the Yorkshire outfit from his parent club, Manchester United where he graduated through their youth ranks only to find little place for him in the senior squad. Since becoming a permanent signing for the Tigers, Brady (who plays primarily on the left wing) was featured in 43 BPL matches – obtaining both three goals and three assists in that time. Certainly not world beating statistics.
With that said, the Yellows are desperately short in the wide areas; especially on the left hand side with youth star, Josh Murphy being the only natural left footed option… That fact alone surely makes most Premier League experienced left footed wingers (of which Brady unquestionably is) worth considering?
So how much would it cost to lure the 23 year old to Carrow Road? Well presumably he’ll be hungry to play Premier League football which Hull can no longer offer and his current market value is thought to be somewhere in the region of £1.7m – a figure which is definitely an underestimate given his age and experience, yet rightfully is nowhere close to the frankly laughable rumour of the £15m price tag that has apparently been placed on his head. All things considered, £5-6m would surely be a far fairer price point. Any more than that? Move on. He simply hasn’t demonstrated enough in the top flight to warrant the money and it’s likely that this £15m price tag (if true) is just to act as a deterrent.
The ultimate question then: is he worth it for that money? Honestly, I would be disappointed if we signed him as the first choice option the fill the chasm on the left hand side of our pitch – a player such as Wolves’ Bakary Sako would be an infinitely more attractive prospect in my mind. Nevertheless, Brady would come with a plethora of indisputable benefits, primarily that he’s some 4 years junior to the Mali international but also his greater positional flexibility with his competence on either wing as well as in ‘the hole’.
In conclusion, it wouldn’t be obscene to consider bringing in two left footed wingers in this window given Murphy’s questionable readiness for starting BPL matches. As already mentioned, Sako would be my prime target, yet were the price to be right, Brady could certainly be considered as a versatile backup for anywhere across the offensive line aside from striker as well as a solid future investment. We could do a lot worse with £10-12m than bring in Sako and Brady.
