Steve Bruce's philosophy in the Transfer Market...A deeper look

[AstonThriller]

With the January window only weeks away now I figured I'd do a post about Bruce's transfer philosophy just so we can get an idea of what we can expect from him where potential signings are concerned.


1. HE'S VERY OPEN MINDED

When one looks at his transfer record you'll find he tends to sign players from all kinds of markets. Domestically he's signed players from both the lower leagues and the Premier League. He's also signed players directly from South Asia, Egypt, Ireland, Russia, Argentina, Hondures etc. So this is very encouraging because it suggests he focuses more on the talent of the player and isn't so wrapped up in a player having to have "experience" in the league he's managing in.



2. HE HAS A CLEAR HABIT IN THE MARKET

Now having looked at this record one thing that stands out big is Bruce's tendency to pick up fringe/young players from the top English clubs. His signings in this regard is very impressive. This is a list of some of those signings...

From Spurs

Darren Bent
Tom Huddlestone
Michael Dawson
Jake Livermore
Stephen Kelly
Stephen Clemence

From Arsenal

Fabrice Muamba
Jermain Pennent
Nicklas Bendtner (loan)
Matthew Upson
Seb Larsson
Chuba Akpom (loan)
Isaac Hayden (loan)


From Man Utd

Danny Wellbeck (loan)
Robbie Brady
Fraizer Campbell
John O'Shea
Wes Brown

So he clearly likes to target young players from big clubs and also fringe ones who aren't getting a look in. That is why I mentioned the name Tom Carroll in the transfer thread because he looks like a textbook Bruce signing tbh and plays in a position we need to strengthen.



3. HE LIKES FAMILIAR FACES

Over the course of his managerial career Bruce has often signed players he's already worked with. Titus Bramble followed him from Sunderland to Wigan, Craig Gadner followed him from Birmingham to Sunderland, Lee Cattermole followed him from Wigan to Sunderland, Ahmed Elmohamady followed him from Sunderland to Hull etc etc!!..so that is why I think the Hull right-back Moses Odubajo might be a potential target aswell.



4. HE LIKES TO TAKE THE ODD RISK

He likes the odd maverick or two. He signed Hatem Ben Arfa when he was having problems at Newcastle, signed Jermain Pennant from Arsenal when he was going through bad times, Gaston Ramirez when he was deemed a "dud" at Southampton. So he does take risks at times although with the financial clout we now seem to have he might not need to take any risks with us.



5. LIKE'S TO SIGN THE ODD YOUNG GEM

This is another part of his philosophy I like. He signed a young Conner Wickham from Ipswich when Wickham was hot property a few years back. He also signed the Scottish left-back Andy Robertson for a bargain fee, a young Mikael Forssell from Chelsea many moons ago, Tom Ince from Blackpool, a young, unknown Simon Mignolet, Wilson Palacios,  etc etc!!..



Final thoughts

So, all in all I think we've got a manager who is very exciting in the transfer market. Who's record is creative, smart and open minded with a tendency to roll the dice from time to time. Mon was very much "British first" in his approach, Houllier tended to look at the foreign market more whilst Lambert was all over the place. Then we had the moneyball antics of last summer. With Bruce though I think it will be fun times. He's experienced and plays the game very well. Some signings might raise the odd eyebrow but in the main I expect his signings to make sense and bring an element of excitement to the fans.

[Boldfinger]

Well done Aston Thriller for putting up such an informative post.
Brucies standing gets higher and higher from me.

[AstonThriller]

Well done Aston Thriller for putting up such an informative post.
Brucies standing gets higher and higher from me.

Cheers. It's really gonna be interesting to see what he does with the financial backing he's gonna get now. He's used to working with tight budgets so perhaps he was forced to adopt the sort of philosophy I detailed above? So who knows maybe he'll have a different approach with more money to spend now? We'll see.

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