Dango isn’t one of our worst ever spends, you could argue very strongly that he hasn’t been a good value for money buy but to say he’s one of the worst isn’t fair. It’s easy to forget that he performed well in certain games last season and helped contribute towards vital points: Forest, Liverpool, Spurs and Leeds (when he played very effectively as a right wing back) are all games in which he provided vital goals or assists. So to categorise him with the likes of Traore is grossly unfair, especially given his age.
I’d argue that he has proven to be pretty poor value for money so far though, and I say that because we have signed better attacking players than him over the last year for half the price. The likes of Tavernier and Semenyo have/and are providing the output as well as showing a level of consistency in their all round performance levels. I really do feel as though the championship is where we should be doing most of our shopping.
On Traore, he isn’t an inherently bad player. Technically he is clearly proficient and he has good vision and an eye for goal, bad players don’t score seven goals in a single season in the Italian top flight. He just isn’t cut out for the robust nature of the PL and not capable of playing the high intensity pressing football that we are trying to play. If he was given the freedom to be creative in the knowledge that those behind him would do the dirty work then he might have a chance, I think that was the plan under O’Neil, however he just isn’t going to be given that by Iraola. Would be amazed if he isn’t loaned abroad in Jan as currently he’s just an asset losing value, get him a good loan move and then hopefully recoup enough to not take a hit on him next Summer.
