‘It wasn’t fantastic’ – Exclusive: Kevin Phillips slams West Brom transfer swoop
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 seems to have defended Slaven Bilic’s decision to sign Filip Krovinovic instead of Robert Snodgrass at West Brom in the summer transfer window.
Bilic seemed to spend the entire transfer window hunting down a deal to re-sign Krovinovic from Benfica, even though the midfielder started just 52 per cent of Championship matches last season while he was on loan from Benfica.
Albion signed the 25-year-old on a straight loan deal again in the summer but according to Express & Star journalist Joseph Masi, Bilic could have signed Snodgrass, 33, from West Ham instead of the Croatian.
Krovinovic has struggled on his return to The Hawthorns and has started just five Premier League matches.
However, he’s set to leave for Nottingham Forest, with Telegraph journalist John Percy reporting that he’s having his Baggies loan deal terminated ahead of a return to the Championship with the East Midlands side.
It is understood Krov will undergo a medical at the City Ground today (Friday).
However, Phillips doesn’t think Krovinovic was handed enough chances at West Brom in the Premier League and also doesn’t rate the addition of Snodgrass.
Snodgrass’ performance in the 3-2 win at Wolves on Saturday was widely praised by fans – but Phillips wasn’t as impressed.
“When they signed Snodgrass, for me it wasn’t fantastic business. He’s been a good player but in that wide area, they have plenty of players,” Phillips told West Brom News.
“He was in a winning side at the weekend but I didn’t hear his name an awful lot when I sat and watched the game. He was a passenger for a lot of it but that might be because he didn’t play a lot of football.
“We know what qualities he can bring to the club with his dead-ball deliveries but I think you’ve got players who can do that job once [Grady] Diangana is back.
“Krovinovic hasn’t been given enough opportunities and I think Big Sam, with time running out, he needs players that can hit the ground running.”
Snodgrass was one of West Brom’s better performers at Wolves.
He did the job that we expected him to do, which was to play out wide but also track back a lot and help the Albion defence.
According to stats by WhoScored, no player won more tackles than Snodgrass [4] throughout the entire Black Country Derby. He also managed five clearances, which was only bettered by Kyle Bartley [8] and Dara O’Shea [6].
Snodgrass didn’t lose possession either and blocked three passes so he was instrumental for West Brom in their derby day victory.
Krovinovic, on the other hand, has done very little in the Premier League.
Bilic chased him way too hard in the summer when it was never clear Krovinovic would perform well in the Premier League after a mixed spell in the Championship.
Sure, Krovinovic helped us win promotion with a handful of good performances but that was it. A lot of the time when Krovinovic started, he struggled.
Bilic’s desire to re-sign Krovinovic – and ignore Snodgrass – is one of the many reasons why he’s no longer in charge at West Brom.
In other West Brom news, Albion can sign this international striker for a small £710,000 loan fee this month.
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