One of West Brom’s reported summer transfer targets has spoken out about his failed move to the Hawthorns this week, and it’s rather damning…
What’s the word?
Speaking to Belgian outlet Het Nieuwsblad, Club Brugge striker Emmanuel Dennis revealed that the Baggies had offered him “crazy” wages to make the switch, he said:
“Wages were not the problem. The wages were crazy. And I have also played enough international matches [to obtain a work permit]. The problem was that it was a loan and with the [option to buy] clause in the contract. West Brom was a good deal. If they stayed in the Premier League, they would have bought me. Then I would have been playing in the Premier League for at least two years.”
According to other reports during the window, the 22-year-old commanded an asking price of around €20m (£18m), which isn’t too dissimilar to the deal Albion struck with Huddersfield for Karlan Grant.
Clearly, though, the Belgian league champions wanted the finances upfront.
Inexcusable error?
Forwards signed from the Belgian Pro League have often struggled to get to grips with the Premier League, as seen with Wesley Moraes and Mbwana Samatta, who have both failed to hit the ground running up the road at arch-rivals Aston Villa.
However, Dennis could have been the exception.
Last season, the Nigerian international bagged nine goals in all competitions, which includes an incredible brace against Real Madrid in the Champions League. There aren’t any players within the Albion ranks that can boast such a feat.
It led to Gary Lineker dubbing him “Dennis the Menace” on Twitter whilst he’s even been tipped to become the next Jadon Sancho and been lauded as the ‘Nigerian Neymar.’
That form has continued into the current campaign where he has scored on the elite stage once again, scoring against Zenit St Petersburg on Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, the Baggies linger near the bottom of the Premier League table without a win so far this season.
The emerging forward is averaging two shots and 1.7 dribbles per game, via WhoScored which suggests that he’d have been the perfect fit under Slaven Bilic – someone who can drop deep to bring others into play as well as being lethal in front of the sticks.
You can’t help but feel that sporting and technical director Luke Dowling has made one inexcusable error here as he shouldn’t have tried to be too clever with a deal for a player that’s done it at the very top.
Grant is a good signing nonetheless, but his experience topped out at the Championship until his blank debut on Monday night.
AND in other news, Baggies may have just unearthed their next Harvey Barnes…