During a recent Ask Ornstein video on The Athletic’s UK YouTube channel, journalist David Ornstein spent some time talking about Everton’s director of football Marcel Brands and his future, amid links between the Dutchman and the Toffees’ Premier League rivals Manchester United.
Brands, who has ‘established a reputation for developing players and building clubs’ during his post-playing career, became the Toffees’ director of football back in June 2018. However, his contract is currently set to expire at the end of the season and the ‘transfer market expert’ has been touted as the potential ‘answer to Manchester United’s problems’ of late.
So, with reports linking Brands with a departure from Goodison Park, Ornstein discussed the Dutchman’s future during this Ask Ornstein YouTube video, and the journalist shared that “there is some uncertainty” over whether or not he will still be at the Merseyside club beyond the end of his current contract because there is “some tension” between Brands and Toffees owner Farhad Moshiri.
Ornstein said: “There has been a lot of talk about Marcel Brands and Manchester United, Marcel Brands and other clubs, and that’s because he’s built a decent reputation as a director of football over the years and he’s out of contract at Everton next summer.
“There’s been no news on what’s going to happen, but in terms of this proposed United role, I’m not sure it’s a great fit because he has been so heavily involved in recruitment over the years now at Everton and previously at PSV Eindhoven.
“As for Everton, I’m told he’s incredibly close to Carlo Ancelotti, he really likes the project at Goodison Park, but I think there has been some tension with the owner, Farhad Moshiri, and a lot of speculation over how heavily involved each man is in each transfer the club has conducted, so there is some uncertainty there.”
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TIF Thoughts on what David Ornstein had to say about Marcel Brands…
Brands has been credited with helping Everton to beat some of ‘Europe’s biggest clubs’ to the signatures of ‘top talents’ during his time at the Merseyside club.
Three-time UEFA Champions League-winning manager Carlo Ancelotti was also appointed as Toffees boss during Brands’ tenure as the club’s director of football and so perhaps some credit should also go to the Dutchman for luring the historically successful Italian coach to Goodison Park, with the coach said to be popular amongst Everton’s fans and players.
Following Brands’ first full season as the Toffees’ director of football – the 2018/19 season – the club finished in eighth place in the Premier League table but last season, they finished in 12th place, so perhaps you could argue that this is not a sign of Everton making progress under Brands. However, given how strong their transfer business ahead of the 2020/21 campaign was and given that, under Ancelotti, they currently sit in sixth place in England’s top flight, perhaps Everton are now starting to reap the benefits of having Brands as their director of football.
As a result, we feel it won’t be a surprise if the Dutchman does have plenty of suitors should he decide to conclude his time at Goodison Park at the end of this season, and perhaps the Toffees should make it a priority to ease any tension between the director of football and the owner, tie Brands down to a new deal and continue their project with him.