West Brom signed Spurs star for £13m on a £55k-a-week contract - but was more needed? | OneFootball

The Baggies didn’t get the most out of money spent for Nacer Chadli.

During the last two decades, West Brom have seen a lot of players come and go that have helped contribute to them fighting in either of the top two divisions in English football.

Over those past 20 years, Albion have either had experience of competing against some of the biggest names in the Premier League or challenging at the top end of the Championship, as well as enduring a successful eight-year spell in the top-flight between 2010 and 2018.

Towards the latter end of that run under Tony Pulis, Albion secured the permanent signing of Belgian international Nacer Chadli, who linked up at The Hawthorns in 2016 for a reported fee of £13 million from Tottenham Hotspur.

Coming in as one of the Baggies’ most expensive ever signings, much expectation brewed around the now-35-year-old’s arrival, with supporters holding hope that he could be the key player to helping the Black Country outfit achieve European football.

Ultimately, it didn’t turn out that way for the playmaker, with the former Spurs man suffering spells of inconsistency and injury issues that disrupted his stay and ultimately led to the club returning to the Championship just a year after his arrival.

For the money spent on his services, West Brom didn’t get close to being repaid on the faith shown in him, with the midfielder not living long in the memory as far as the Albion faithful are concerned.

Nacer Chadli’s struggles at West Brom

Estimated by Capology to earn £55,000 a week on his contract at West Brom, Nacer Chadli did in fact make a positive start to life in the West Midlands, keeping fit and making 31 appearances for the club.

A fabulous home debut saw Chadli grab two goals and as many assists in a 4-2 drubbing of West Ham, showing the Baggies supporters what he was capable of.

Goals against Sunderland and former employers Tottenham would follow heading into October 2016, but Chadli would have to wait until the following February to grab his next goal, which also came against the Hammers.

The Belgian would set up goals against the likes of Stoke City, Bournemouth and Arsenal, meaning Chadli registered five goals and five assists for Tony Pulis’s men, as they secured a top-half finish in the Premier League.

It marked a solid debut campaign for Chadli, who was widely expected to kick on the following term. However, it proved disappointing for all involved as the attacking midfielder suffered a host of injury troubles which restricted him to making only five appearances for the Baggies during the whole campaign, with his only goal coming at Leicester City in October 2017.

From this, Albion desperately missed the attacking and creative presence he offered in the number 10 role, and while he returned for the final two games of the season, he couldn’t help steer the club away from the drop zone, with the Baggies resigned to Championship football.

Chadli would go on to depart the Hawthorns in the summer of 2018 following the club's relegation from the top-flight, signing for Ligue 1 side Monaco on a three-year deal.

In total, Chadli netted six times and recorded five assists from just 36 appearances over two seasons, with a large portion of Albion’s budget paid for a player who struggled to keep himself on the pitch regularly.

Nacer Chadli signing was a waste of valuable West Brom resources

If West Brom could have had a playmaker who was a lot more reliable for their fitness, then Albion may not have dropped down to the Championship in 2017 and could still be a Premier League side today.

For such a sizeable transfer fee and wages, the Baggies got nowhere near the investment made, which would have been so frustrating given the club wasn’t blessed financially under Chinese businessman Guochuan Lai.

Despite showing promising glimpses in his first season, the signing of Chadli was ultimately a gamble that didn’t come off, and was one of the leading factors to Albion’s demise and return to the second tier, with the club still feeling the effects of the relegation.