The ‘butterfly effect’ suggests that if a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, it could set off a tornado in Texas. If Liam Delap doesn’t get injured against Fulham, Brian Brobbey doesn’t leave Ajax and perhaps it is Wilson Isidor or Eliezer Mayenda leading the line in the derby.
To recap, when Delap went down at Stamford Bridge two days before deadline day, Chelsea needed a new striker. A move for Sporting’s Conrad Harder broke down. The option of blocking Nicolas Jackson’s proposed move to Bayern Munich was rejected. So, with the clock ticking, Chelsea officials picked up the phone, called the Stadium of Light and offered Sunderland a cash settlement to cancel Marc Guiu’s season-long loan deal.
Guiu had scored his first Sunderland goal a few days earlier, netting in the Carabao Cup defeat to Huddersfield Town, but the Spaniard hadn’t really hit the ground running. Might there be a better option out there for the Black Cats?
Kristjaan Speakman asked the question to his various members of his recruitment team and one name kept cropping up. Brobbey. The then 23-year-old was raw, undoubtedly, but he was a Dutch international who had been Ajax’s top scorer in the Eredivisie two seasons earlier. He was also a player Ajax were looking to sell for around €20m.
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Sunderland had held provisional talks over Brobbey earlier in the summer, but had opted against making a permanent move for an out-and-out centre-forward. As the clock ticked into deadline day at the start of September, it was time for that to change.
“Football, just like life, is unpredictable,” said Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris. “But you can create the conditions that allow you to find good solutions when things happen.
“Brian was already very much on our radar. We always thought he would be a good fit. But obviously the time was a bit tight so, after that, it was a question of whether it would be achievable.
“Sometimes it is in that scenario, sometimes it is not. Fortunately, it was the case with Brian that we could do it. In the end, the connection has turned out to be perfect.”
It certainly has, although Brobbey’s first season in England was initially something of a slow burner. The striker had played a peripheral role in Ajax’s pre-season, so arrived on Wearside lacking general physical fitness as well as match sharpness.
He didn’t make his first Sunderland start until early December, when he was selected for the draw with Liverpool at Anfield, and didn’t score his first goal as a starter until January, when he scored the Black Cats’ goal in their 1-1 draw at Tottenham.
Since then, though, he has not looked back. He has cemented his place as Le Bris’ first-choice forward ahead of Mayenda and Isidor, and took his goals tally for the season to six when he fired home the winner against Newcastle.
“I felt last week that Brian was really at another level during the training sessions,” said Le Bris. “You can see the way that he is now connected with his own performance, but also with his team-mates. The way that is developing is crazy really.
“The league is so demanding, and when he started the season with us, he probably wasn’t at the best fitness levels. He needed a bit of time to be ready to be physically competitive in this league. Then, when that was done, he still had to connect with his team-mates. Now, progressively, with confidence and experience, we want to play with him.
“The connection we have with him through the middle now is so hard to defend. Newcastle wanted to be aggressive, but we wanted to attract them and play with Brian the way we did, supporting him. That allowed us to kill the press, even in the final third. He is getting better, and he is a good, good striker.”
He was sensational against Newcastle, bullying both Sven Botman and Malick Thiaw as he led the line with a combination of raw, physical aggression and considerable finesse.
In many ways, the 24-year-old is a throwback, a traditional number nine who is happy playing with his back to goal, wrestling opposition centre-halves as he holds up the ball and brings his team-mates into play. There is subtlety to Brobbey’s play too though, with his touch superb and his finishing of the highest quality.
Back in his homeland, Brobbey is being touted as an increasingly strong contender for a place in the Netherlands’ World Cup squad. Here in England, opposition managers and sporting directors are wondering if he is one that got away.
Sunderland made some brilliant signings last summer – Granit Xhaka, Nordi Mukiele, Noah Sadiki, Robin Roefs. For much of the season, Brobbey’s name didn’t really feature on that list. Increasingly, though, it’s starting to look like he might turn out to be the best of the lot.
“For me, he was easily the best player on the pitch,” said Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher, while reflecting on Sunday’s derby. “He was involved in the goal to make it 1-1and rightfully got the winner.
“What a signing Brian Brobbey has been for Sunderland. Every time I watch him play, he impresses me. His hold-up play is fantastic, and I’m just absolutely delighted I’m not a centre-back in the Premier League having to deal with him.”