Speaking on the Baggies Broadcast Podcast, former West Brom Sporting Director, Dan Ashworth, has been discussing how he almost signed Nemanja Matic for the Baggies.
Ashworth was in charge of transfers at the Hawthorns for a number of years, and he made some fantastic signings for the club.
However, sadly, it seems as though he also made one serious blunder.
Indeed, according to Ashworth, he was going to sign a young Nemanja Matic for just €200,000, but for one reason or another, the deal never came to pass.
What’s been said?
Ashworth was asked about players he’d missed out on for West Brom.
“Yeah, Nemanja Matic was one. I went over to Slovenia, I went and watched him, he was going to be €200,000 (£170,000), he was young, I remember he was a stiff mover, we had George Thorne at the time who was a similar position and a similar age, and for one reason or another we didn’t do it, but we liked him, I can’t remember why we didn’t get the deal done, but you talk about him as one that got away,” Ashworth said.
Disaster
Nemanja Matic would have been a fantastic signing for West Brom.
The Serbian would go on to establish himself as a Premier League great with both Chelsea and Manchester United, earning a move worth £40m to Old Trafford in 2017.
West Brom would have been an entirely different team if they had Matic marshalling their midfield, and who knows? Perhaps they’d still be in the Premier League now if they could’ve sold Matic and reinvested the money wisely.
This has to go down as a real transfer disaster on Ashworth’s part.
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