Phillips delivers verdict as West Brom fail to sign Ahmed Musa – Exclusive
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 feels West Brom didn’t need to sign Ahmed Musa because they already have enough options in the wide areas of their squad.
On Wednesday, Express & Star journalist Joseph Masi reported the Albion have decided against offering the 28-year-old Nigeria international a contract, even though he’s a free agent and has been training with Sam Allardyce’s team.
Masi claims the Baggies haven’t signed Musa because “they already have stronger players in his preferred position out wide”.
However, there are conflicting reports away from the local media.
AllNigeriaSoccer reported that Musa’s move to The Hawthorns was off due to financial issues, which led to both parties pulling the plug on a deal.
That correlates with an earlier report by Simon Jones of the Daily Mail. He reported that the Albion were struggling to free up funds to sign Musa on a short-term deal even though the ex-Leicester attacker had impressed Allardyce.
Phillips feels that it could be a combination of both financial issues and the fact West Brom already have plenty of wide players in their squad already.
“They may feel that in terms of the finances, it doesn’t sit right. Maybe the player isn’t the player they thought because if he was, and he was on a free, they would have snapped him up and got him in the side,” Phillips told West Brom News.
“When you do look at the names of those wide players on the bench, why try to bring another one in just for the sake of it?
“They might be thinking, ‘are we really going to survive? Is there any point in bringing another player in and getting him on the wage bill when we’ve got enough here?’. I don’t see Musa coming in and really changing the dynamics and mounting a challenge.
“I would imagine there are various reasons but there are enough players there and Diangana is yet to come back too.”
We refuse to believe West Brom didn’t sign Musa simply because they felt they already had enough options in his position.
When the Nigerian arrived for his trial at The Hawthorns, the club already knew how many wingers and forwards they had. They’d be simply wasting their time and Musa’s time by inviting him for a trial when they already knew they wouldn’t sign him.
It must be down to finances and we believe that the fact Kamil Grosicki remains a West Brom player has something to do with it.
According to Polish news outlet Interia Sport, Grosicki is wanted by Legia Warsaw and is earning £40,000-a-week on his deal at The Hawthorns.
West Brom are ready to let him go for free but Legia reportedly cannot meet his wage demands.
If Grosicki was released in time then maybe they could have afforded Musa while a spot on the wing was also opened up.
We don’t buy for one moment that the failure to sign Musa was solely down to the number of wingers in the squad already.
In other West Brom news, fans want this 45-year-old manager to replace Sam Allardyce if he’s sacked.
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