Valerien Ismael divulges Matheus Pereira conversation, delivers West Brom exit verdict
Valerien Ismael expects Matheus Pereira to leave West Brom this summer after staging a video call with the Brazilian upon his arrival from Barnsley.
The new Baggies boss faced the media on Monday [July 5] and he fielded questions over the future of his star attacker, as well as England goalkeeper Sam Johnstone.
In quotes relayed by the Independent, Ismael divulged a prior meeting with Pereira before the start of pre-season training last week.
“It’s not a secret, Sam Johnstone and Matheus Pereira are the two players who can leave,” he said. “It’s my expectation they will leave.
“I don’t need the best players, I need the right players and even if they leave we will find the right solution.
“After I signed I had some video calls with all the players and it was the first time I spoke with Matheus, we spoke openly about the situation.
“I don’t have a problem. It’s very simple, you are in or you are out. But, if you are in, you are 100 per cent.
“At the minute he is 100 per cent focused and I can’t say anything else.”
Exit-bound
There was only faint hope among Albion supporters that Pereira would stay, but day by day the dream that he may stay at The Hawthorns started to grow ever so slightly.
Speculation had started to subside somewhat in regards to interested parties, and we were holding out for the chance that teams may be reluctant to do much business with the effects of the pandemic still hitting clubs hard.
However, it appears an inevitability that Pereira will leave West Brom this summer, and it sounds like he and Johnstone will go with Ismael’s blessing.
The Frenchman was obviously briefed on their possible departures when he was locked in negotiations over leaving Barnsley for the West Midlands, so he was happy to take the reigns despite the knowledge that two of his most important players were likely to leave.
We can only hope that he was promised that he would be able to reinvest the funds back into the side and welcome some fresh faces ahead of a gruelling Championship campaign.
In other West Brom news, our Albion Super Fans go beserk over official club update.
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