–Wants Eagles star to match odemwingie’s exploits at the Hawthorns
West Brom boss Alan Irvine today backed club-record signing Brown Ideye to shine – despite admitting he has not seen the £10million man play.
Irvine has challenged the former Dynamo Kiev man to match the exploits of fellow Nigerian Peter Odemwingie, the Baggies’ leading Premier League scorer with 30 goals.
But the Hawthorns head coach admits he has only watched his new star signing on DVD.
Technical director Terry Burton gave the go-ahead after the 25-year-old was watched extensively by scouts.
Irvine said: “It would be fantastic if he could have the same impact as Peter Odemwingie did.
I don’t know much about Brown Ideye – I’ve not seen him live, but people we trust have done.
“It’s not necessarily something that is detrimental to me not to have seen him live, though ideally I would like to because that’s how I like to do my work.
“But we’ve done our research on him and what we have done is found decent players in the past in this way.”
Ideye could figure in the friendly at Nottingham Forest on August 2 after Albion officials decided against flying him to California for the pre-season training camp.
The forward, who has asked fans to call him ‘Bobby’, is understood to be in his native Nigeria while the paperwork is completed.
Another new-boy, Liverpool defender Andre Wisdom, has flown to the States to link up with Irvine’s squad after completing a season-long loan move.
And Costa Rica international full-back Cristian Gamboa could complete a move from Norwegian side Rosenberg before the weekend.
The deal is expected to cost around £2m, and Irvine is happy to work to a budget.
“There are six big, big clubs who are ahead of everyone else and blow everyone else away,” he said.
“Then there is Everton who didn’t have the money for years, but through good management and great decisions, are in that bracket too.
“That’s where clubs like ourselves have to aim for. With long-term management you can make progress.”
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