Simon Jordan blasts Alex Iwobi signing after Marcel Brands exits Everton
Simon Jordan has slammed the signing of Alex Iwobi after Marcel Brands left Everton on Sunday night (5 December).
Speaking via talkSPORT on Monday morning (6 December), ex-Crystal Palace owner Jordan was highly critical of the 25-year-old Nigeria international bought 15 months after Brands arrived at Everton.
“Nobody, nobody in their right mind pays £30million to Arsenal for Alex Iwobi, they just don’t, not a serious pretender anyway,” Jordan said.
“Nobody that runs a business sits there and goes ‘right, I tell you what I’m going to do, I’m going to bankroll a business like football and I’m going to sit back and advocate total and utter unconditional responsibility’.
“No, you put someone in and listen to their advice and you sense-check it and you follow it, and then you follow it over a period of time.
“You’ve [Farhad Moshiri] arrived in April this year and you think that the guy is doing a good job so you give him a new three-year deal and then seven months later he buys no more players besides a couple of successful ones, like Demarai Gray, and you then fire him.
“It makes no sense!”
Failings
Iwobi will surely go down as the most expensive failure of the Marcel Brands reign at Everton.
He joined Everton for an initial £28million fee, rising to £34million with potential add-ons [BBC].
That was despite a tally of just 15 goals in 149 appearances for Arsenal, where he underwhelmed after breaking through during the 2015/16 campaign at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners must have felt that Christmas came early when they landed such a big fee from the Blues.
Iwobi has, so far, failed to reignite his career at Goodison Park, scoring just six goals in 78 appearances.
He has made 11 Premier League appearances this season, scoring once and registering one assist.
There remain questions as to whether Iwobi was actually identified by Brands or if it was Moshiri and his advisors that pushed for the move.
Regardless, it’s Brands’ name that has been severely damaged by the purchase and it remains to be seen what comes of Iwobi on Merseyside, or just how much the Blues will lose if they try to sell him.
In other Everton news, the Blues are open to the sale of this popular first-team Blues star amid ongoing issues.
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