West Bromwich Albion will want to get back to winning ways against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, knowing that their spot in the Championship play-off picture isn’t concrete just yet.
Hull City’s entertaining mid-week win over Coventry City will have troubled the Baggies somewhat, knowing that the Tigers could be level on points with Carlos Corberan’s promotion challengers if the West Midlands outfit lost to Danny Rohl’s Owls at the end of play this weekend.
Corberan will want titan-like performances from his defenders away at Hillsborough subsequently, knowing that Wednesday will be going full-throttle to attempt to win themselves in their bid to stave off relegation.
West Brom will also know that one of his centre-back heroes, Cedric Kipre, could be nearing a summer exit even if do they go up, walking out of the building on a potential free transfer – with the Baggies at least cashing in sensibly on another former star in the heart of defence back in 2008.
Curtis Davies’ time at West Brom
Remarkably, Curtis Davies is still lining up for League One outfit Cheltenham Town at 39 years of age, with Baggies supporters fondly remembering the veteran defender more for being a spritely young star.
Davies would make his West Brom debut all the way back in 2005, the 6 foot 2 warrior plunged straight in at the deep end at the Hawthorns by making 33 Premier League appearances that same campaign.
After scoring two goals that season, Davies began attracting interest from top clubs when West Brom got relegated to the Championship. During the 2006/07 season under Tony Mowbray in the second tier, where West Brom missed out on promotion, Davies shined once more, making 32 appearances before Aston Villa made a move for him.
Reportedly sealing a permanent deal at Villa Park for £9 million after an initial loan spell in the 2007/08 season, West Brom profited from this sale by receiving a significant transfer fee, which would be even higher in today’s inflated transfer market, according to TotallyMoney’s Transfer Index.
TotallyMoney analyzed the 100 most expensive transfers in Europe’s top five leagues since 1992, factoring in historical financial data to determine the present-day value of players from previous eras, considering the substantial inflation rates in football transfers over time.
Curtis Davies’ transfer value in 2024
If that same deal went through by 2024’s inflated standards, West Brom would have pocketed significantly more at an eye-watering £23m, as per Totally Money.
Regardless, the West Midlands outfit would have been pleased with the original amount Villa coughed up especially when evaluating how much their ex-centre back ended up struggling away from the Hawthorns.
| West Brom’s record departures | |
|---|---|
| 1. Salomon Rondon | £16.5m |
| 2. Matheus Pereira | £16m |
| 3. Saido Berahino | £12m |
| 4. Nacer Chadli | £10m |
| 5. Jay Rodriguez | £10m |
| Sourced by Transfermarkt | |
Davies’ increased transfer fee would potentially make him West Brom’s highest-ever departure, hypothetically speaking. Despite this, West Brom would still benefit significantly from offloading the 6-foot-2 defender to Villa.
Acknowledging that his debut performance for Villa back in 2007 was subpar, being likened to that of a “pub player,” Davies’ three-season tenure at Villa Park turned out to be quite disappointing, now considered a significant transfer failure.
During his time at Villa, Davies made a total of 68 appearances before controversially moving on to Birmingham City, Villa’s arch-rivals, after playing just three games in his final season with the club, a move that made him somewhat unpopular among Villa supporters.
Amazingly, the now-veteran defender would be a hit for the Blues to add even more salt into Villa’s gaping wound by netting 12 goals from 106 games.
West Brom will hope that they can tie down Kipre to a new contract soon, not wanting to fall victim to a transfer blunder in the here and now involving their current crop of defenders after having the last laugh over Davies.
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