July 17, 2019 - Cairo, Tunisia, Egypt - FRANCE OUT July 17, 2019: Ahmed Musa of Nigeria during the 2019 African Cup of Nations match between Tunisia and Nigeria at the Al Salam Stadium in Cairo, Egypt. /CSM. Tunisia v Nigeria - 2019 African Cup of Nations PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY - ZUMAc307 20190717_zsa_c307_053 Copyright: xUlrikxPedersenx
According to Birmingham Live, West Brom are said to be interested in free agent Ahmed Musa. The interest, however, was generated when Slaven Bilic was still the Baggies manager. The player is also keen on a return to Europe and is hoping for a chance. He has also said that there has been interest from various other clubs.
The 28-year-old Nigerian forward is currently a free agent after leaving Al-Nassr last month. He started his youth career at GBS Football academy and had loan spells at local clubs like JUTH FC and Kano Pillars.
In 2010, he moved to Europe with Dutch side VVV Venlo. Until he was 18, he was ineligible for the transfer. Just as soon as the age criteria was fulfilled in October that year, he was drafted into the team and given his debut. In 42 appearances for them, he scored 10 goals and assisted 12 more.
Following that, CSKA Moscow signed him in 2012. He would enjoy a prolific spell there for four and a half seasons before Leicester City came calling. However, he would not enjoy the same level of success there as made just 33 appearances before returning to CSKA on a short-term loan.
In total, he made 184 appearances for the Russian side, scoring 61 goals and assisting 33 (h/t Transfermarkt). On his return from loan, Musa was signed on a permanent by Al-Nassr where he spent the last two seasons. The forward is the captain of the Nigerian team and has 87 caps and 15 goals to his name.
West Brom’s return to the Premier League after two seasons has not gone to plan. They were the first club to sack their manager this season after a poor run of results, replacing Slaven Bilic with Sam Allardyce.
While they did bring in some reinforcements in the summer like Diangana, Grant and Callum Robinson, they have still struggled for goals. Robson-Kanu and Robinson are the club’s leading scorers with 3 goals each. The rest have chipped in with a few goals here and there. Now you start to see where the problem is.
Ahmed Musa’s last English sojourn wasn’t quite a happy one as he struggled to get games and even when he did, he struggled to perform. However, he still remains a quality forward option. He has bags of experience in the top-flight and for his country as well.
At 28, he still looks to have enough firepower to help out a side like West Brom. A quality goal getter, West Brom can take a chance on him given his free agent status. They would not be losing out on a lot in case this move backfires but could benefit a lot in case it all works out.