19th January 2005: The Almeyda
situation took another twist today when the player himself came out
and spoke publicly about the proposed transfer. Unfortunately, it
won't have endeared him to Albion fans as he basically said that he
might not retire, and if River Plate don't offer him a contract, he
might join West Brom. With comments like that, it's no wonder he fell
out with the fans at Brescia. I suppose it may have lost something
in translation, but Albion can't afford to hang around anyway. In
reality, the deal remains dead.
So turning to other targets, Robson is apparently waiting to hear
a response to a player (presumably James O'Connor) plus cash deal
for Burnley's Richard Chaplow. The 19-year-old won the Man of the
Match award in Burnley's win over Liverpool last night, crossing the
ball that one-time Albion target Djimi Traore managed to put into
his own net with a trick that went wrong. I only saw the second half
of the game, and I must admit to not being overly impressed with Chaplow,
although it's harsh to judge on 45 minutes and I assume that his first
half performance was much better.
The other news today saw French World Cup winner Bernard Diomede arrived
at the Hawthorns for a week's training for Robson to have a look at
him. Gerard Houllier once paid £3 million to bring the left-sided
midfielder to Anfield, although once there, Diomede was never really
given a chance. He then went on loan to French side, Ajaccio AC, eventually
making the move permanent. This season, the Frenchman, who turns 31
next week, has already had unsuccessful trials at Manchester City
and Bolton Wanderers, so I'm not holding my breath too much that Robson
will see something in him that Allardyce and Keegan did not.
Another rumour I heard over the weekend is that Albion are one of
a clutch of clubs interested in bringing Cardiff City defender Daniel
Gabbidon. Danny started his career at the Hawthorns and was always
a good prospect. He moved to Cardiff and has since broken into the
Welsh national side. I'm not sure whether he's a player we need at
the moment - if we are to buy another defender, we need an experienced
top flight player. Plus, I'm sure we've got some sort of sell-on clause
for Danny that wouldn't do us much good if we bought him!!
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