These West Brom fans have been discussing the possibility of Mbwana Samatta joining the club.
The transfer rumour was started by Het Laatste Nieuws and stated this when talking about Mbwana Samatta’s future: ‘West Brom, the second in the Championship, would also be interested.’ The rumour was then relayed to fans via WBA Report on Twitter.
Samatta started his career at African Lyon but was moved on to Simba SC in July 2010. However, the Tanzanian international did not stay at Simba for long, with the 27-year-old joining TP Mazembe for a tiny fee of £63k in July 2011.
After spending a couple of years with Mazembe, Samatta joined his current club Genk for just £720k in January 2016. To show you how cheap that deal is, the 27-year-old now has a Transfermarkt value of £10.80m, however, the initial report stated ‘a departure around €10million (£8.5m) is negotiable‘, so you can almost guarantee Genk will make a profit.
Here is what the West Brom fans have had to say about the transfer rumour on Twitter:
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West Brom have been linked with Genk striker Mbwana Samatta, who was the top scorer in the Jupiler League last season.
However, whilst 27-year-old may be keen on the move, EU work permit regulations are likely to hold him back.
[via Het Laatste Nieuws] pic.twitter.com/kBdzv4evet
— WBA Report (@WBAReport) January 8, 2020
He’s class player ???
— Michael Farmer (@baggieboyfarmer) January 8, 2020
What’s samatta with the strikers we’ve got? ?
— Tom Bettam (@tbettam1) January 8, 2020
Imagine ?
— John (@Johnwba01) January 8, 2020
Good striker but same play style as HRK and Austin, think we need a quick striker like Gayle.
— nimmy jewtron ???? (@nimmyjewtron7) January 8, 2020
Would you like to see Mbwana Samatta join West Brom?
Yes
No
So far this season, Mbwana Samatta has played 20 matches for Genk in the Belgium Jupiler Pro League, scoring seven times in those league outings. However, it is the UEFA Champions League that has seen Samatta have the most success, with the 27-year-old playing six times and scoring three goals while also assisting on one occasion.
The 27-year-old is a pretty lively striker, during his UEFA Champions League outings the Tanzanian international averaged 1.8 shots per game, with the same amount of his shots being taken outside of the box as in the penalty area [0.7 each game for both], showing he is comfortable at any range and does not just look for tap-ins.
It is clear to see that the majority of these West Brom fans would like to see Samatta join the Baggies, with the others mainly making ‘what’s Samatta’ puns.
One of the Baggies fans did mention the work permit, however, the report from Het Laatste Nieuws has stated: ‘Anyway, a special committee would have to decide whether Samatta would get a work permit for England.’
The scenes
— Jack ?? (@Jackmaywba) January 8, 2020
Will EU work permit be a problem after Jan 31st
— gaz crwni (@crwni) January 8, 2020
What Do We Think?
There are two big obstacles in the way of this happening for West Brom, the first one is Mbwana Samatta’s work permit, with the Het Laatste Nieuws report stating ‘non-EU football players must meet strict quality criteria’ and the other is how much would the 27-year-old cost.
With Het Laatste Nieuws stating that a ‘departure around €10 million is negotiable‘ (£8.5m), that’s a lot of money for a Championship club to spend on one player.
We would love to see Samatta in the Championship, but honestly, to expect the Baggies to spend anywhere near that amount on one player is crazy. For that reason, we just cannot see this deal getting over the line.