Exclusive: Pundit warns of potential West Brom unrest after major Bilic revelation
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 warned that West Brom’s decision to sell Ahmed Hegazi behind Slaven Bilic’s back can cause unrest at the club.
On Sunday, Saudi Arabian club At-Ittihad confirmed the signing of Hegazi, 29, on a loan-to-buy basis from the Baggies.
However, speaking earlier this week, Bilic revealed that it wasn’t his decision to let the Egypt international leave and that he was left “very disappointed” [Independent].
Although Phillips believes that this is the sort of thing that can cause issues behind the scenes, he doesn’t envisage it happening at West Brom because it is a lot more common-place than people might realise.
“If that is the case then it doesn’t make for great reading. Nobody likes to have a player sold behind their back but it happens in football and Bilic is experienced enough to know that this does happen,” Phillips told West Brom News.
“It’s not just happened at West Brom. We’ve seen it at many clubs where players have left when the manager’s not known a lot about it but also players have also been brought into football clubs when you don’t know a lot about them.
“It can cause a rift but I don’t think it will in this case.”
Since our interview with Phillips earlier this week, Bilic has spoken to the media to say that he’s held clear-the-air talks with the West Brom hierarchy and the matter is now closed [FourFourTwo].
It’s not ideal but Hegazi has hardly shown himself to be West Brom’s best centre-back in the last year and the money raised from selling him can be reinvested into the squad when the transfer window re-opens in January.
West Brom fans were left disappointed by the club’s inability to spend in the last transfer window so there’s a good chance that Bilic and Luke Dowling will look to add fresh blood to the squad in the winter.
In other West Brom news, this Baggies loanee suffered an injury this week.
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