West Brom confirmed the departure of loanee Filip Krovinovic on Friday, much to the disappointment of several fans.
The Croatian was a popular figure at The Hawthorns during his 18-month spell but he failed to make a good impression on Sam Allardyce.
Krovinovic has now joined Nottingham Forest on loan until the end of the season.
His friendly spirit and relationship with Matheus Pereira means that he is well-liked by a number of Albion supporters, who are sorry to see him go.
After all, he played a big hand in our promotion last season, featuring 40 times in the league and making seven goal contributions.
The 25-year-old struggled to adapt to the Premier League however, and found his game time limited this term.
Big Sam’s arrival only made things more difficult for the Croatian, underlined by his 137 minutes played under the new boss.
A return of just 0.5 key passes and 0.7 dribbles per league game (WhoScored) shows his underperformance, and if Albion are to stay up we require an upgrade.
Freeing up his wages could allow a new player to come in, with James McCarthy linked, so this could prove to be a shrewd bit of business.
Despite that, some fans still think it is a mistake to let Krovinovic leave, and they have made their feelings known.
Big mistake in my opinion, but football is a strange thing at times, should of offloaded sawyers before him imo
— martin1evans (@martin1evans) January 22, 2021
Such an awful decision 🤦🏼♂️
— kane scott (@Kane_Scott13) January 22, 2021
Should have kept him, a better midfielder than Sawyers, Gallagher and Livermore. The only one who could tackle and drive forward with the ball.
— Woody Woody (@martynpwoodhall) January 22, 2021
Cheers. Pererias crying.
— Harry Standing (@harry_standing) January 22, 2021
depressed https://t.co/eB4MzINDrn
— mjd (@takeahikeymikey) January 22, 2021
Gutted about this 😔 Best of luck Filip, you'll always be one of my favourites 💙🤍💙 https://t.co/oXplX777q0
— DeeJay (@oDeeJayx) January 22, 2021
Can’t help feel we are offloading future young talent to make space for 6 months of Sam’s gamble …. https://t.co/jqMjim3R8c
— Martin Eaglestone (@MartinSiopChips) January 22, 2021
Why just why 😰😢 https://t.co/7oMS3ZPZeX
— throstlesforlife (@bigsamoutnow) January 23, 2021
In other West Brom news, the Baggies enter talks with striker, future decided in ‘coming days’.
I can’t agree more. It’s a real shame to lose Krov. He’s proved himself better than others in our squad but needs to play regularly and that’s not going to happen under Fat Sam.
For his own sake he’s better off at Forest
I just hope they realise he’s not an impact sub and he gets plenty of games as a starter.
He was too smiley for Allardyce, anyway….we need more dour, gritty, miserable characters to slot into the pragmatic football we will be playing. Sad day.