As the Saido Berahino transfer saga rumbles on, we remember some of the West Bromwich Albion players who tried to force a move away from the club.
Meltdowns
Regrettably, Saido Berahino and Peter Odemwingie will always be remembered for their conduct during their West Bromwich Albion transfer sagas. It doesn’t help that Berahino’s saga has dragged on for well over a year – and five transfer windows – which has been deeply frustrating time for everyone involved. Berahino’s original transfer request came at the start of the saga, a day after he was left out of Albion’s squad for their 3-2 defeat to Chelsea, which would be turned down by the typically stubborn Albion chairman Jeremy Peace. The infamous Berahino tweets would follow as both parties held their ground.
The story of Peter Odemwingie’s transfer request is painfully similar. The Nigerian was seeking a move to Queens Park Rangers during the 2013 winter transfer window, only for Peace to deny his appeals for a switch. Like Berahino would later do, Odemwingie took to social media as a more desperate means to force a transfer before making the last-resort – and unfortunate – journey down to London on deadline-day.
Berahino could have learnt a lot from Jason Koumas’ drawn-out transfer saga. The gifted midfielder handed in a written transfer request after helping West Brom back into the Premier League in 2004, only to remain at the club for another three years. In that time, he continued to show glimpses of his incredible talent, only to allow off-field dealings to stunt his career. As the Mirror reported, he even considered striking in the summer of 2007 before finally moving to Wigan Atheltic.
Lack of opportunities
Sean Gregan, Robert Earnshaw, Craig Dawson and George Thorne all handed in transfer requests after claiming that they weren’t being given enough first-team football. In the summer of 2014, Thorne flirted with the Odemwingie school of forcing a move by publicly accusing the club of treating him like a ‘kid’, according to the Birmingham Mail. Thorne would have to hand in two requests for a move before finally being granted a transfer to Championship side Derby County.
In the same transfer window, Craig Dawson would also attempt to leave the Hawthorns in pursuit of first-team football. The ex-Rochdale hoped to end his four-year West Brom stay with newly-promoted Burnley interested. In this instance, Albion’s hierarchy did Dawson a favour by turning down his request, as the defender became a regular under Alan Irvine before being converted into a first choice right-back under Tony Pulis.
Jumping ship
Probably the most common opportunity for players to hand in a transfer request is following a club’s relegation. In 2007, Albion received two in the space of a couple of weeks, as Curtis Davies and Diomansy Kamara signalled their intent to leave the Hawthorns. Both men would get the Premier League moves that they craved, but the manner of their departure would leave resentment among Baggies supporters. Almost ten years on, the Hawthorns crowd took pride in reminding Davies of his ‘betrayal’ when he made his return with Hull City.
There certainly didn’t appear to be the same bitterness towards Jonathan Greening and Zoltan Gera when they turned in transfer requests, in 2006 and 2009 respectively. Perhaps their age and service to the club eased any hard feelings towards them. It just goes to show there is a fine line between respect and villainy in football, especially when it comes to transfers.
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