Exclusive: Kevin Phillips hails new West Brom player who has ‘hit the ground running’
We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Phillips as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Kevin Phillips has hailed Callum Robinson for not taking long to settle down at West Brom since his loan switch from Sheffield United in January.
Robinson, 25, has made five appearances for the Baggies and scored in each of his last outings against Nottingham Forest and Bristol City.
He was hardly getting a sniff of first-team action at Bramall Lane before Slaven Bilic eyed a temporary deal for the former Aston Villa attacker in January.
Despite being one of Chris Wilder’s summer signings, Robinson started just nine Premier League matches for the Blades and ex-Albion striker Phillips claims that the top-flight might just be too much of a step up for the winger.
“I think first and foremost, he just needed to get out and play football and I know him because one of my friends is a huge Sheffield United fan and it just didn’t quite happen for him there,” Phillips told West Brom News. “He needed to go out and play.
“Not many players have the opportunity to go on loan to a club that’s top of the Championship and are playing well week in, week out and creating chances. He’s stepped in really comfortably.
“At the minute, the Premier League is a little bit of a step up for him so perhaps he needed to go and play, show what he can do, gain confidence, learn the game and with Slaven Bilic and playing with the quality players he’s got in and around him, everyone’s going to benefit from that.
“For Slaven Bilic to have a player come in with Premier League quality. How many times do we see a player come in and we say it takes a while for them to hit the ground running? With this kid, he’s done it straight away so it helps having the quality around in Pereira and players like that.”
Robinson has been overflowing with confidence since West Brom signed him on loan from Sheffield United.
He was unlucky to have not score twice in the 2-2 draw against Forest, in which he also won Sky Sports’ man of the match award.
The ex-Preston ace then set the ball rolling in Saturday’s 3-0 win away at Bristol City – a massive victory for the Baggies in their bid for automatic promotion.
West Brom are flying at the moment and Robinson’s impact is one of the reasons behind that.
In other West Brom news, Bilic has shared an updated on the injured Grady Diangana.