But you sign a player as he is at the time you sign him.
If we signed Neuer but he turned to shite when he arrived, would it have been a mistake to buy him?
Yes. The intention would be good but if, for whatever reason he turned out to be crap then it would be a mistake. Using your logic it was right to sign Bony.
I am not part of the Hart cheer squad and felt we needed an upgrade to push us on. A world class keeper. The powers that be thought likewise and went and got Bravo. 17m plus salary of circa 100k per week. In addition, we are still paying 50-60k for hart to play for someone else.
We have pages of comment on Bravo, because he has not performed to expectations and has not been an upgrade.
Those that want to defend him talk about distribution, new style and what other managers/players think of him in order to justify the decision.
I've said it previously. My wife who does not really watch football called it in his first game against Man Utd. I tried to focus on other attributes to his game and give him time. I think others may still be in that boat.
But c'mon. He has been atrocious at one of the fundamentals of his job. Keeping the ball out of his net. He has soft hands and is incredibly slow to react (not going to get any better at 34+). He is appalling at 1v1 and is a liability at judging crosses into the box.
It's the equivalent of buying the best striker in the EPL over a 12mth period who holds up the ball really well and has strength but just can't seem to do what ultimately he was purchased to do and that's score goals for us. Some make the call early, others focus on system, confidence, other attributes that he brings to the team. At the end of the day, a mistake for us.
Bravo has been a mistake and and has not been the "worldy" we thought we were getting.