You kind of sympathize with Silva, as he is probably under a lot of pressure. He cannot even choose his players, as that job has been given to Brands. People say the DOF model works as it is used by Madrid (ahem) Barcelona, etc. they also have huge buckets of cash and can attract the very best players.
I actually think it is past time English clubs follow some sort of Sociedad-lite model, where we have to have a certain number of academy players in the team. It’s better than watching a team of random mercenaries