I need to spell this out? Er, yeah, Woodward has left the club. But the fans complaints about what was wrong with him haven't. For years, people complain because they think we sign veteran big-name players according to their marketability, with little thought given to constructing a functional squad on the basis of clearly defined needs. Then we want to sign a veteran big-name player who oozes marketability even beyond his current on-pitch contribution, despite the fact he fits into squad needs to about the same degree as Donny van de Beek did. Yes, we need squad players. But maybe in an area where we are actually lacking depth, instead of a position where we already have our best player, and possibly a backup option (Donny) whom it will be diificult to get enough playing time as it is. How does that work out? Play Bruno out of position on the right? Push DvdB to a deeper midfield role? Or play Eriksen deeper? Then what about de Jong? If we do this and also keep VdB and sign FdJ, this is archetypically a move that creates new problems rather than solve any. Sure he's a good player, but that's not a good enough reason to sign him.
Whichever way you cut it, the arguments for signing Eriksen are all about liking him as a player, not about how he fits into the squad or our needs. Also, at most he helps for a couple of seasons, and hence does not contribute to any sort of rebuild. And signing a player for those reasons is in obvious contradiction to the kind of general transfer approach that most on the Caf are calling for.
And please, I'm not bitching because we haven't signed anyone yet or I only want first team players (and absolutely nothing in my post gave you reason to think I did). What gets me is people bitching about disjointed recruitment and then jumping the bandwagon as soon as we're linked with a big-name player they like.