Athletic journo names WBA talent who has ‘impressed’ Bilic following summer plan to sell
The Athletic journalist Steve Madeley has claimed that Kieran Gibbs has “impressed” West Brom manager Slaven Bilic this season, despite initial plans to sell him this summer.
As reported by the Telegraph last month, the full-back was one of a number of players who the Baggies identified as a potential departure in the current transfer window.
But a potential exit failed to materialise, and instead, Gibbs has started this term as Bilic’s first choice left-back.
And Madeley has suggested that he has earned that position through merit.
Writing in a piece for The Athletic, he said: “Plan A in the summer was to offload the ex-England defender, replace him with a younger, cheaper, more durable model and invest the rest of his salary in other areas of the team.
“Yet despite private soundings to agents and potential suitors, the same concerns that prompted Albion to attempt to seek a parting of the ways also prevented other clubs from taking the plunge.
“Albion and Gibbs were stuck with each other and Bilic — without the funds to strengthen at left-back — was impressed with the defender’s reaction.
“Gibbs trained well in pre-season, performed well on the training field and in friendlies and looked set to become a key, senior member of Bilic’s team.”
Of course all positivity surrounding a renewed Gibbs was thrown into disarray just before half-time at Goodison Park on Saturday, as he was dismissed for swiping at the face of Everton playmaker James Rodriguez.
This poses problems for West Brom, as they have to replace a starting player with valuable Premier League experience for the next three games, in which the Baggies face tricky ties at home to Chelsea and away at Southampton.
Even on Saturday, West Brom were very much in the game until they were reduced to ten men, despite being 2-1 down at the time.
Gibbs acknowledged his mistake and apologised to his team mates and supporters in a tweet.
https://twitter.com/KieranGibbs/status/1307342610713972737?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1307342610713972737%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftheathletic.com%2F2078191%2F2020%2F09%2F21%2Fkieran-gibbs-west-brom-everton-red-card-james-rodriguez-ban%2F
Here’s hoping that apology is sincere and is taken on board by Albion chiefs, because the last thing that both player and club need is for Gibbs to regress this season.
In other West Brom news, Report: Major striker development as player dropped from side amid big West Brom interest.
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