‘It just hasn’t worked’ – Exclusive: Kevin Phillips sympathetic for West Brom summer signing
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 admitted that Kenneth Zohore has found himself in an unfortunate situation since joining West Brom from Cardiff last year.
Albion paid £8million to sign the 26-year-old in the summer, making him their most expensive signing since suffering relegation from the Premier League in 2018.
However Zohore has found chances limited at The Hawthorns with the Danish striker appearing just 17 times across all competitions and failing to make any of Slaven Bilic’s last six matchday squads in the Championship.
Part of the reason why Zohore has struggled for game-time at West Brom is that Hal Robson-Kanu and Charlie Austin have been in far better form than him this season.
Robson-Kanu scored his 10th goal of the campaign against Preston on Tuesday and while that figure isn’t the most amazing, the Welshman’s performances have still been key to the Baggies’ promotion-chasing form.
As for Austin, he hasn’t started as often as Robson-Kanu, but he has still scored nine goals in 29 total appearances this term and has had some game-changing impacts off the bench.
Zohore’s found the net four times for West Brom this season but two of those were from the penalty spot back in August while the other two came in successive matches against Charlton in the league and FA Cup in January.
For now, it seems the Dane will have to wait for his chance but Phillips has called on him to prove his worth to Bilic in training in the meantime.
“It just hasn’t worked for Zohore. He was a player we spoke about at clubs where I was involved in coaching because at that time he was doing well, he was flying,” Phillips told West Brom News.
“He got his move to West Brom and now it looks like the competition in front of him, the players are performing. Robson-Kanu is flying at the moment and whenever Austin has been called upon he hasn’t let anyone down.
“The only way Zohore can affect getting into that squad is training hard, working hard and trying to give a manager a problem when it comes to selection.
“It’s unfortunate but players in front of him are performing better.
“Ultimately, if he gets in, he’s got to perform. It’s all down to him to persuade the manager to put him in the matchday squads.”
Zohore will have to wait for his chance because it seems unlikely that Bilic will drop Robson-Kanu or Austin any time soon.
However he could get an opportunity next week when West Brom welcome Newcastle United to The Hawthorns in the FA Cup.
Robson-Kanu is likely to be rested for that game so Zohore will no doubt be pushing to start or either come off the bench at some stage.
In other West Brom news, Slaven Bilic was wowed by this player’s display against Preston.