West Bromwich Albion are worried that record signing Brown Ideye has made little impact on the team since his summer arrival from Dynamo Kiev, according to The Telegraph.
After making his first start in a month in Wednesday’s loss to Bournemouth in the Capital One Cup match, the £10m man was left out altogether in the 1-0 win against Leicester at the King Power Stadium.
Against the Foxes, manager Alan Irvine opted for Georgios Samaras and Victor Anichebe on the bench with the in-form Saido Berahino playing alone up front.
The selection paid off and Irvine explained his tactics afterwards.
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“We pick the team carefully even if it’s the same team, it’s still chosen with a lot of thought and care – that applies to the subs as well,” he said.
“What we knew was that Leicester had a physical presence. Generally, I have two centre forwards on the bench and I decided that I needed physical options rather than somebody like Brown whose strengths are running in behind.”
Irvine, though, has not shut the door against the Nigerian forward.
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“The way that we do it is I say to any player, ‘If you want to come in on Monday, come in on Monday’. But when the team’s named and the subs are named accept that, respect the rest of the players and then come back in later if you want to have a chat.
“I might have a chat with him on Monday if he feels he needs to have a chat but if he doesn’t I won’t be calling him in.”
When Ideye was signed, Irvine admitted that he had never seen the Nigerian play live, trusting the judgment of the club’s scouting and recruitment department.
But that seems now like an error of judgment, considering how long it is taking him to adapt to the Barclays Premier League.
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The club, though, are confident of an improvement in his psychological state when Ideye’s family join him in England late November and have dismissed suggestions that they would consider loaning out the striker in January.
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