BEVERLY HILLS, January 25, (THEWILL) – An online post that provided a transfer update for Nigeria’s Super Eagles’ captain has drawn the ire of a section of English Premier League fans. It was a tweet from John Percy of The Telegraph that brought irate fans of West Bromwich Albion against the idea.
In the tweet, Percy issued an update on West Brom’s interest in ex-Leicester City attacker and Nigerian captain Ahmed Musa as Sam Allardyce’s Albion had shown interest in the £5.4m-rated man, who is a free agent after his October departure from Saudi club, Al-Nassr.
The portion of his tweet that provoked the fans was that Percy revealed that the 28-year-old is set to train with the Baggies for the week, with manager Sam Allardyce thinking about offering him a short-term deal at The Hawthorns, especially because the pacy Nigerian already possesses Premiership experience.
Incensed for having their club linked to Musa, many Albion fans, using the Nigerian’s performance indices at Leicester as a measure, did not hide their embarrassment seeing their club even remotely considering Musa. Percy’s update therefore drew a barrage of negative reaction from Baggies fans.
The tweets highlighted below are only a handful of the type of reactions evoked by the update and are representative of the feelings of fans ahead of Allardyce’s attempt to add Musa to his squad:
“Good God, what have we become?” (from @NedJ55135980)
“Damn, this is getting embarrassing now” (from @Yacxb)
“What is the point in signing any so-called striker? With our midfield, they’ll never get any chances” (from @bluntroger)
“What a state our club is in #WBA” (from @DexWBA__)
“Stinks of desperation #wba” (from @rmelrose11)
“Look at the comments, everyone laughing at us, it’s actually embarrassing supporting this football club at times.” (from @RyanPGlasgow)
Much of the discussion of Musa joining an EPL side as Albion comes from the determination of the Nigerian to get closure as he has been quoted as saying he has unfinished business in the Premier League after leaving Leicester for Saudi Arabia when his career failed to spark in the Midland’s side.
At the time, the Foxes shelled out what was a club-record £16.6million fee to bring the Nigerian from CSKA Moscow in 2016 to join them in their attempt to defend their shock title win.
Unfortunately, the Leicester move did not work for Musa. He could only manage just four goals in his first season and very rightly fell down the pecking order so much so that he had to be loaned back to his former club to find playing time.
That dryness he experienced at Leicester that resulted in a lack of goals was at the foundation of the reactions of Albion fans who considered him a liability rather than an asset in their own search for goals. The 19th-placed side in the 20-team EPL has only managed 15 goals in 19 Premier League games this season while conceding a whopping 43.
Allardyce reportedly believes Musa’s pace and power could be just the tonic to get them scoring again and attaining the mission of his appointment in the first place: to avoid the relegation drop from the top flight to the Championship.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
