Brian Brobbey Must Overcome the 'Eredivisie Curse' to Succeed at Sunderland

Brian Brobbey’s season at Sunderland has started slowly, to say the least.

IMAGO / Sportimage

Brian Brobbey was one of the last-minute signings for Sunderland in the last transfer window, coming from Ajax, but his performance on the pitch has not been the expected, and history suggests he might not succeed at all.

After the Premier League defeat against Manchester United before the international break, Brobbey played his third game of the season, subbing in for Wilson Isidor, keeping the role he has had since joining the club, and coach Le Bris had something to say about that.

Being asked about why Brobbey has not been a starter in any game this season yet by Sunderland Echo, Le Bris’s answer was pretty straight, saying that the Dutch striker still needs to “step up to the league”, reflecting on the big difference between playing in Eredivisie compared to the Premier League.

According to SofaScore, Brobbey’s season at Sunderland has started slowly, to say the least. Brian has not even completed 90 minutes in the three games he has participated in, combining for only 64 minutes, not even a single full match, with no goals or assists yet.

Eredivisie strikers and a decade long struggle at the Premier League

Sunderland took a big risk signing Brobbey from Ajax, especially after recent transfers where  

prolific Eredivisie strikers have not been able to perform in England as they used to do in the Netherlands.

Recent examples like Vincent Janssen moving from AZ to Tottenham in 2016, scoring only 6 goals in 42 games after scoring 31 in 49 in the Eredivisie, and Jürgen Locadia from PSV to Brighton in 2018, also 6 goals in 46 games after being a key contributor at Eindhoven are just a trend of failed Eredivisie signings that come a long way before getting the last successful one.

The last Eredivisie star striker to achieve some sort of success in the Premier League was Graziano Pellè, who moved from Feyenoord to Southampton in 2014, yes, more than a decade ago. Pellè had scored 55 goals in 66 Eredivisie games across two seasons before the transfer, then delivered 30 goals in 80 EPL appearances over two solid campaigns.

Now, for Brobbey the challenge is clear, his path at Sunderland has two clear roads to take: he can either break the negative trend for Eredivisie strikers in the Premier League following the steps of Pellè or just become another failed transfer like Janssen and Locadia, growing the narrative that forwards from the Dutch league cannot be trusted at the elite level of football.