View: The frozen out West Brom star who cannot afford another bad showing
When Kamil Grosicki returned to West Brom following a failed move to Nottingham Forest, Slaven Bilic suggested that there was a road to minutes for the Poland international.
Speaking shortly after his move to the City Ground broke down, Bilic said (via Express and Star): “Of course he is going to be included. I feel sorry for him because he is a great lad and very professional.”
However, the 32-year-old is yet to appear in the Premier League this season, with his only minutes in a Baggies shirt coming in the EFL Cup against Harrogate Town. On this occasion he played in a much-changed West Brom side and clearly failed to impress the manager.
Despite his lack of game time at the club level, he has continued to be selected for his national team and was involved against Italy in the Nations League on Sunday.
Entering the fray at half-time, Grosicki did very little to convince Bilic that he is deserving of more playing time at club level.
Utilised as a wide player in Poland’s 4-2-3-1 formation, he failed to get involved and finished the match with just 16 touches and eight attempted passes in 45 minutes on the field. Completing one dribble and taking one blocked shot, he was unable to provide any key passes or contribute defensively (via WhoScored).
Italy are formidable opponents, but when this is your only chance to impress, you need to perform better.
With Grady Diangana, Matheus Pereira and Callum Robinson all used out wide so far this season, there is plenty of talent ahead of the Poland international at The Hawthorns.
However, Pereira is perhaps best centrally and Robinson has been used as a striker. Meanwhile, Diangana has struggled to have any sort of impact at the Premier League level.
Therefore, if Grosicki was to start putting in good performances there is definitely a path to first team football, but he needs to prove Bilic wrong. His next opportunity should come on Wednesday against The Netherlands and the Croatian will no doubt be watching.
In other West Brom news, View: Tools to hurt them – 25y/o West Brom star who must start v Man United