View: 28-year-old cannot expect to walk back into West Brom starting XI
OPINION
Ahmed Hegazi could be set to make his first appearance of the season for West Brom next week when the Baggies travel to Middlesbrough with the centre-back in line to play for Egpyt on Monday.
Egypt face Botswana in an international friendly and Slaven Bilic has already confirmed, as quoted by the Express & Star, that the 28-year-old is expected to get some game-time for the Pharoahs.
Hegazi has not played for West Brom’s first team since the end of last season as during the summer he underwent surgery to repair a long-standing issue with his ankle.
He did play for Albion’s Under-23s last month, appearing for just over an hour in a Premier League 2 victory against Newcastle’s reserves
It would be fair to assume that once he has played for Egypt on Monday, he will be back to full fitness in time for West Brom’s Championship showdown against Middlesbrough.
That could leave Bilic with a selection headache.
West Brom are top of the Championship standings at the moment and went into the international break off the back of an impressive 4-2 victory against Cardiff City.
So does Bilic stick with a winning side, or bring back the man who is widely seen as Albion’s best centre-back?
If Hegazi is going to replace anyone in West Brom’s backline then it is bound to be Kyle Bartley with Semi Ajayi seen as the signing of the summer by some sections of The Hawthorns crowd.
However Bartley, although still a scapegoat to some, has shown drastic improvement to his game and to leave out the former Swansea defender could also be counter-productive.
According to stats by WhoScored, Bartley has averaged more clearances [5.3] and blocks [0.9] per league appearance than any other West Brom player this season while the 28-year-old is yet to be dribbled past once by an opposition player.
Bartley has also completed 86.8 per cent of his passes this season, which ranks him fourth in Bilic’s squad, ahead of Ajayi, Jake Livermore and attacking midfielder Matheus Pereira.
Bilic has a tough call to make and if results get worse, fans cannot use hindsight to say that he made the wrong call between Hegazi and Bartley.
One has earned his place in the starting line-up this season while the other is yet to prove that he can be the defender he was last term due to a lengthy spell on the sidelines.