Super Eagles’ captain, Ahmed Musa has received support from West Bromwich Albion of England’s coach, Sam Allardyce in his hope of joining the English Premier League stragglers, despite a cash hitch that erupted during discussions, megasportsarena.com reports.
In what appeared like a continuation of his love for Nigerian players, dating way back to his with former Super Eagles’ captain, Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha at Bolton Wanderers, Allardyce put his weight firmly behind sealing a deal for Musa, who is joining The Baggies as a free agent.
The backing from ‘Big Sam’ comes after Musa proved that he is in peak physical condition, following checks he got from the club’s science and performance crew at their training center in Walsall, such that everything then looked sure to go for his signing.
However, an unexpected hitch soon emerged from the bank, where startling information about poor financial records and limited funds meant WBA’s transfer kitty was not strong enough and their current form in the EPL was adjudged to be as a result of their poor economic standing at present.
Despite the financial odds against signing Musa, though, Allardyce is banking on the fact that the former Kano Pillars, VV Van Venlo of Holland, SKA Moscow of Russia, Leicester City of England and Al-Nassr of Saudi Arabia winger-cum-attacker is arriving at The Hawthorns for free.
A report out of Queensland went on to affirm that, for Musa’s deal to happen, Albion’s owners must either put more cash on the table or push through a transfer for Kamil Grosicki to Legia Warsaw of Poland in order to garner necessary funds to cement the free agent’s signing.
Nonetheless, with West Brom having already freed up a spot in their squad by submitting a 24-player squad list to the EPL office, an extra spot was still open for Musa to fill, and the usually outspoken Allardyce declared emphatically that he is confident the deal would go through.
The boast by ‘Big Sam’ came even at a point updated reports indicated that Burnley and CSKA Moscow were lurking round the corner, monitoring Musa’s situation with keen interest, with a view to a swoop, especially as he had been on the verge of returning to his former club in Russia just 24 hours before the opening emerged at West Brom.
Musa is now expected to sign a short-term deal with the possibility of an extension at the end of this season, ahead of which his national team coach, Gernot Rohr told Super Eagles TV: “We are in touch with our captain, he is in the United Kingdom now.
“It’s not so easy to change during the season but he is free to sign where he wants and there’s no obligation to respect the transfer window for him because he was free already. I am very hopeful that he can sign in the next days.
“He wanted to come back to Europe and to play in England so it’s not easy during the season but I’m hopeful that he can sign in the club, it’s very important that everybody is playing in their clubs.
“It’s a long time that he didn’t play, I think since October, so he needs now to come back in the rhythm of the matches.”
