We pick an XI featuring some of the players you may have forgotten signed for West Bromwich Albion.
Kevin Pressman had an incredible 17-year career with Sheffield Wednesday, but his month-long loan stint at West Bromwich Albion won’t be remembered by many. The veteran stopper, who clocked up over 500 appearances in his career, sat on the bench for Albion’s wins over Cardiff City and Sheffield United in February of 2004, while first-choice keeper Russell Hoult was unavailable.
Following a recommendation from ex-Baggie Romeo Zondervan, West Brom handed a contract to AZ Alkmaar centre-back Joost Volmer. The Dutchman endured a nightmare start in English football, as Walsall thrashed Albion 4-1 at the Bescot Stadium on the opening day of the 2003/4 season. In the next game, Volmer would be paired with Thomas Gaardsoe to help Gary Megson’s men bounce with a 4-1 win over Burnley. After featuring in five successive wins, Volmer was substituted in the 1-0 defeat to Wigan and would fail to reclaim a regular spot in the team, before leaving for FC Den Bosch in the summer.
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The full-backs in this XI are Sekou Berthe and Miguel Tininho. The former arrived in the same window as Volmer but found it more difficult to break into Megson’s starting eleven. Berthe, who could play at centre-back or right-back, eventually made his debut in Albion’s 2-1 win at home to Millwall. However, his run in the side would come to an end two games later with the 2-0 home defeat against Neil Warnock’s Sheffield United. The result signalled the Baggies’ first home defeat of the season and Berthe’s final league game in an Albion shirt.
In 2008, Tony Mowbray signed left-back Tininho from Portuguese side Beira-Mar. After starting in the opening day 2-1 defeat away at Burnley, Tininho struggled to reclaim his place ahead of Paul Robinson before spending the latter part of the campaign on-loan at Barnsley. He would be released at the end of the campaign and return to Portuguese football with Belenenses.
On deadline day of 2006, Bryan Robson brought in Uruguayan defender Williams Martinez on a six-month loan. Robson, who had signed the defender on the recommendation of ex-striker Daniel Fonseca, told BBC Sport: “If Williams is anywhere as good as Curtis Davies, I’ll be very happy.” Unfortunately, Martinez wouldn’t live up to that billing and only featured twice in his time at the Hawthorns. The Martinez-West Brom story does have a slightly happier ending, as the defender scored for his already-relegated side on the final day of the season against Everton.
It was a similar tale for loan signing Juan Carlos Menseguez, who signed on deadline day for Mowbray’s struggling Albion side in January of 2009. Menseguez was largely restricted to substitute appearances, but come off the bench to score in Albion’s 3-0 win over Sunderland.
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Alassane N’Dour is another name that can be added to Megson’s slightly obscure recruitment during the 2003/4 campaign. The midfielder, who was part of Senegal’s over-achieving 2002 World Cup side, only played twice in his loan spell from AS Saint-Etienne, including the 2-1 win over Sheffield United in February.
Williams Martinez wasn’t Robson’s only disappointing loan signing in January of 2006. The Albion manager also signed Jan Kozak from Artmedia Bratislava, telling BBC Sport: “I really impressed with Jan when I saw his performances in the Champions League against Porto and Rangers.” Kozak couldn’t replicate that form in the Premier League and failed to play his way into a struggling Baggies side.
West Brom must have thought they had pulled off a coup when they secured the loan signing of promising winger Yassine El Ghanassy, However, the Belgian’s move didn’t work out as planned and El Ghanassy’s loan was cut short in January, without making a single league appearance.
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During his time as West Brom manager, Mowbray missed out on a relatively unknown prospect at Lech Pozan called Robert Lewandowski, but he would end up securing the signature of a fellow countryman Bartosz Slusarski. The striker arrived from Grodzisk in 2007 and played just six minutes of football for the Baggies before being sent on-loan to Blackpool and Sheffield Wednesday.
Slusarski is paired in attack by another man who didn’t complete 90 minutes for West Brom. In January of 2004, Megan bolstered his striking options with the loan addition of Morten Skoubo from Borussia Monchengladbach. His only two opportunities came in brief substitute cameos against Preston North End and Coventry City.
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