West Brom hero primed to show Spurs potential error in judgement
Published:
West Brom entertain Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday afternoon and one player whose allegiances recently switched between the clubs will be intent on showing his former employers what a little more faith in his talents may have brought them.
Nacer Chadli spent three full seasons as a Lilywhite before being flogged this summer for what transpired to be a new club-record fee for the Baggies at £13m.
His transfer out of White Hart Lane wasn’t a massive surprise, as the Belgium winger struggled to regain a spot in Mauricio Pochettino’s Premier League starting XI as the season wore on following an autumn injury lay-off.
On the surface this looked to have been a good deal for all involved. Yet, for a midfielder with a handy knack of scoring goals, there must have been some among the Spurs support who felt that a mistake had been made.
The 27-year-old Belgium international notched 11 times during the 2014/15 Premier League campaign before seven in all competitions last term and his start to west Midlands life will have affirmed those fans’ fears.
Chadli has jumped straight into the affections of the Hawthorns crowd thanks to three goals in his first four top-flight outings in the famous stripes.
Tony Pulis has been waxing lyrical about the ‘top-class player’ his club have managed to tie down and the midfielder appears to be thriving in his new surroundings as a star, rather than bit-part player.
Of course Tottenham manager Pochettino will be feeling justified in his decision given his squad’s highly-impressive start to the campaign as the only undefeated side, sat second after a superb victory over title favourites Manchester City.
Still, in the form that he’s shown since searching out more guaranteed first-team football and, with the extra motivation proving a point can bring, Chadli coming back to haunt the Lilywhites seems like it could be worthy of investment.
The former Lane-dweller is an 11/4 chance to score any time at the Hawthorns and follow in the footsteps of notable ghosts of clubs past, such as Carlos Tevez, Nicolas Anelka and, who could forget, Emmanuel Adebayor.
A full-length run up the pitch to taunt his former fans feels most unlikely in the event he bags however.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
