View: West Brom should have signed ‘sheer magic’ 30y/o in January – Barcelona want him now
West Brom should have made more of an effort to sign Marcos Alonso, as the club was reportedly interested in the Chelsea full-back in January.
The Athletic alleges that Kieran Gibbs almost left the club last month to join David Beckham’s Inter Miami.
Albion were happy to let the left-back leave and had set their sights on Alonso as a possible replacement, though in the end we did not need to bring him in.
We feel that is a shame, as the Spaniard has proven his quality in recent matches.
He has often been left out of the Chelsea squad since Ben Chilwell signed in the summer, but has taken the opportunity presented to him by new boss Thomas Tuchel.
Alonso scored against Burnley recently and would have been a good fit at the Hawthorns.
An ability to play at full-back and wing-back would have given Sam Allardyce multiple options, and the 30-year-old could have made an improvement to our defence.
That is much needed since we have now conceded 30 goals in just 11 games under Big Sam.
Garth Crooks previously described Alonso as “pure magic” in 2020, and he would have added a winning mentality to the squad.
He has lifted three major trophies with Chelsea, including the Premier League title in 2017.
Unlike Branislav Ivanovic, he is a proven winner who still has a lot to offer.
Barcelona’s interest in him currently attests to that, and the fact Tuchel picked him ahead of Chilwell straight away shows how highly he is regarded.
Alonso has not featured much this season but last year averaged a WhoScored rating of 7.3, due in part to a return of 1.6 tackles and 1.1 dribbles per game.
His best attributes are arguably in attack, however, and four goals in 15 starts in 2019/20 is an impressive return considering his role.
He also managed 1.4 key passes that last term, and could have been the perfect foil for Mbaye Diagne.
The striker showed off his aerial strength against Tottenham on Sunday and it is a shame he will not get the chance to feed off the quality crosses Alonso can provide.
Gibbs has been disappointing this season too, so it looks like we have missed a good opportunity for an upgrade.
In other West Brom news, ‘Big decision’ – Madeley makes big claim about future of Sam Allardyce at Albion.