West Bromwich Albion’s 1-1 draw away at Millwall this weekend won’t have been the end of the world for the Baggies, who still find their spot in and amongst the play-off pack secure after John Swift scored late on.
However, Carlos Corberan’s men will hope they can pick up a win on Easter Monday instead of another point being notched, when Tom Cleverley’s Watford troops travel to The Hawthorns after an encouraging 2-2 draw with Leeds United last time out.
The West Midlands outfit will be dreaming about a Premier League return if they can keep up this positive run of form, hoping that they can finally mark a comeback to the top flight.
If they do return, they’ll aim to be a little more cautious with how they spend their money, with one notable Baggies dud still hurting those with connections to West Brom when they reminisce.
Brown Ideye’s time at West Brom
Back in 2014, West Brom must have thought they had hit the jackpot after signing Nigerian centre-forward Brown Ideye off the back of his goalscoring exploits elsewhere.
The now 35-year-old would become a record purchase at £10m, having bagged 42 goals from 103 games playing out in Ukraine with Dynamo Kyiv.
Yet, despite everything pointing towards a purchase that would go on to set the Premier League alight for the Baggies, Ideye undoubtedly flopped at The Hawthorns.
Described as being a “powerful” attacking force after signing by West Brom head coach Alan Irvine, in truth, Ideye would fade in and out of contests rather than being an imposing menace.
Ideye would go on to net a poor return of seven goals from 31 appearances before being moved on to Olympiacos, with just four of those coming in top-flight action.
Five of those strikes would come in February and March of his debut campaign, with much of his time in the West Midlands barren and frustrating, in contrast to this mini purple patch.
£10m at the time looked like a colossal waste of money, but when casting an eye over TotallyFootball’s Transfer Index today, the ill-fated deal looks even worse in the context of 2024’s inflated market.
Totally Money have taken the 100 most expensive transfers of all time across each season since 1992 in Europe’s top five leagues. Armed with plenty of historical financial data they have calculated what footballers of yesteryear would be worth in the present day after taking into account the remarkable rate of inflation.
Brown Ideye’s transfer value in 2024
If West Brom went about this deal again now, Ideye would cost Corberan and co an eye-watering £20.4m.
Consequently, Ideye would rise back up the rankings to become West Brom’s record arrival once more – beating past major signings such as Salomon Rondon and Nacer Chadli in the process.
| West Brom’s record arrivals – top five | |
|---|---|
| 1. Salomon Rondon | €17m (£14.5m) |
| 2. Karlan Grant | €16.5m (£14.1m) |
| 3. Nacer Chadli | €15.2m (£13m) |
| 4. Oliver Burke | €15.2m (£13m) |
| 5. Jay Rodriguez | €13.7m (£11.7m) |
| Sourced by Transfermarkt | |
The Baggies will hope they don’t splash the cash in a similar fashion to Ideye flopping and it backfiring if they do jump back up to the Premier League, with Corberan wanting to keep his tight-knit group of Jed Wallace, Kyle Bartley and other seasoned professionals together over flashier individuals.
Ideye found success in Greece with Olympiacos, scoring 28 goals in 65 games, but his time at West Brom marked him as a disappointing signing, especially for Championship promotion hopefuls.
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