View: West Brom 23-year-old has been star of the season, the PL deserves a player like him
Matheus Pereira has been the star of the show for West Brom since joining the Baggies on a loan-to-buy basis from Sporting CP in the summer.
The 23-year-old is widely reported to be one appearance short of triggering an £8.25million permanent switch to The Hawthorns but, as reported by Express & Star journalist Joseph Masi, Albion have the option to trigger that agreement whenever they like.
In essence, Pereira’s move to become a full-time player at The Hawthorns is inevitable and the current suspension of the league has simply delayed that inevitability.
It is a major boost for West Brom supporters, who have seen Pereira light up the Championship this season by scoring six goals and supplying 16 assists in his 33 league appearances.
Pereira’s brilliance has known no bounds and it is clear to all that have watched him that this is a player who will not only keep his head above water in the Premier League but shine in the top-flight of English football.
Of course, West Brom need to get there first but with a player like Pereira in their side, you would imagine that once football returns, the Baggies will be able to continue their march towards automatic promotion.
Pereira has shown he has a range of skills this season that would suggest he’d stand out in the Premier League.
According to stats by WhoScored, the Brazilian has averaged more key passes per appearance than any other Championship player this term [2.5].
It is no surprise that based on his number of key passes, that Pereira has supplied as many assists as he has done for West Brom.
In the 5-1 win against Swansea in December, the Brazilian showcased just how good he is at picking out killer passes by assisting goals for both Hal-Robson-Kanu and Matt Phillips.
As shown in the above below, Pereira took advantage of a disjointed Swansea defence to pick out Robson-Kanu with a left-footed pass despite being under pressure from an opposing player.
Pereira barely looked up before playing an inch-perfect pass to the Wales international, who went on to slot the ball into the Swans’ goal.
Next up is arguably Pereira’s best assist of the season.
As you can see in the image below, this is the point of where Pereira looked up and saw Phillips charging into the Swansea penalty area on the opposite flank.
Pereira then proceeded to dink the ball into Phillips with a beautifully executed lobbed through-ball, which the Scotland international stuck into the back of the net with a diving header.
One of Pereira’s other strengths this season has been his ability to win free-kicks.
We understand that this is something Aston Villa fans used to brag about time and time again with Jack Grealish, who went down if the wind picked up at Villa Park last season, but with Pereira, he’s so good on the ball he’s clearly targetted by opposing players.
Stats by WhoScored show only QPR’s Ebere Eze [89] has been fouled more times than the Baggies star [88] this term.
And when Pereira can score goals like the free-kick against Bristol City – that’s always a plus.
You’ll find it hard to argue that there’s been a better goal scored by a West Brom player this season.
Pereira is a player who West Brom have needed for a long time.
He has all skills, abilities and characteristics of a luxury player but since joining West Brom he has been nothing but sensational.
Provided we can still reach the Premier League, we cannot wait to see what the South American magician can do against some of the best teams in Europe.
In other West Brom news, John Hartson has been raving about this Baggies ace.