WEST BROM BOSS ON IDEYE

West Brom boss says Nigerian needs time to settle

Alan Irvine has rejected unfavourable comparisons between Albion and Everton’s record signings and insists Brown Ideye needs time to settle at West Brom.

The Baggies head coach watched as former Hawthorn hero Romelu Lukaku inspired Everton to a comfortable 2-0 victory that leaves West Brom second from bottom.

Twenty-eight million pound signing Lukaku, who spent the 2011-12 season at Albion, scored a delightful second minute curler and looked a threat throughout.

At the other end of the pitch £10m Ideye struggled to make anything of the scraps of service that came his way – and is still looking for his first West Brom goal.

But Irvine is adamant the two situations are not comparable. “There’s a big difference between the two of them, there’s a big difference in terms of the money straight away,” he said.

“There’s also a big difference in terms of what they’ve had to go through to be at this point.
“Romelu, who clearly has the greatest of respect here because of the job that he did when he was here, is a player who understands the Premier League, he’s done the pre-season and he spent last season playing for Everton, so he’s not out of condition, trying to understand what is going on in this country.

“He’s extremely settled at Everton, he understands exactly what is required of him, the Everton players understand what is required to play to his strengths as well, so it would be really difficult to judge Brown Ideye in the same way as you would Romelu.

“Brown has been one of the ones who has been thrown into the deep end a little bit early as far as I’m concerned but he’ll benefit from that as it goes on.

“He shows good things in training and he needs me, the staff, to give him time to settle. It’s been a big ask for him.”