Brown Ideye always doomed to disappoint at West Brom

9 years ago

Brown Ideye always doomed to disappoint at West Brom

Some events are so seismic they serve as a mental page-marker. Everyone remembers where they were when a Kanu-inspired Nigeria team clawed back a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 at the 1996 Olympics, or what they were doing when the Ikeja Cantonment explosives went off in 2002.
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I remember exactly what I was doing when I first heard the news that Brown Ideye had signed for West Bromwich Albion last summer. I was eating, a most enjoyable meal too. There were three things about the deal that gave me pause.
First, West Brom had sanctioned a club-record fee to be paid to Dynamo Kiev for the 26-year-old. For a modest club like the Baggies whose ambitions most seasons revolve around staving off relegation, the reported £10 million fee represented a significant investment.
The second thing was that it was during the World Cup. Erstwhile Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi had elected to leave Ideye out of the squad to Brazil, citing the striker’s profligacy. Effectively, this should have robbed him of a shop window in which to impress potential suitors. How impressed could a Premier League club be with a player deemed not good enough for his national team?
Finally was coach Alan Irvine’s statement that he had not watched Ideye play before. My first thought was that it explained the fee, and was to the player’s advantage. My second thought was that it was the worst possible thing for the former Ocean Boys’ marksman.
The reaction(s) of a fanbase to a signing are to a great degree conditioned by what the manager says at his unveiling, especially when the arrival is relatively unknown. When there is little elaboration to the deal besides “he is a striker and he has been signed for a ton of money”, this burdens the player with great, and often unrealistic, expectation.
The fans put two and two together, and came up with a massive leap of logic: an expensive striker is expected to score goals. Entirely understandable, however in Ideye’s case, it reckons with his one significant weakness and plays up none of his strengths.
The Super Eagles striker is a hard worker, unselfish in his play and physically powerful. At his most effective with the national team under Keshi, he scored just once at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013, a scuffed effort which ricocheted in off a sliding Mali defender.
However, his hard running and physicality served to create space for the likes of Emmanuel Emenike and Victor Moses to star at the tournament. His brilliant flick for the Super Eagles’ first goal of the tournament against Burkina Faso highlighted his spontaneity, but in a way encapsulates him: his one moment of quality came in an ostentatious attempt to provide an assist.