Joseph Masi and Luke Hatfield discussed all of the latest West Bromwich Albion news on the most recent edition of The Express and Star’s Baggies Broadcast podcast and they spent some time reacting to Sam Allardyce being appointed as West Brom’s new manager during the show.
Allardyce’s appointment was announced just hours after it was officially confirmed that Slaven Bilic had been dismissed by the West Midlands club.
While discussing the future of the Baggies under Allardyce, Masi revealed that he believes summer signing Matheus Pereira “will thrive” playing under the former England boss.
Masi said: “He plays flair players. He’s always had players like that, he always has his couple of mavericks, I think, which is why I think Pereira will thrive under him.”
Do you think Pereira will thrive under Allardyce?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts on what Masi had to say about Pereira’s future under Allardyce…
Last season, when Pereira was just on loan at West Brom from Sporting CP, the £11.7m-rated Brazilian played a very prominent role for the Baggies as they achieved promotion to the top flight.
Pereira ended last season as Albion’s top league assist provider, with the 24-year-old making a whopping 16 Championship assists last term, 10 more than the Baggies’ next highest assist provider.
The playmaker is Albion’s joint-highest assist provider for the 2020/21 Premier League campaign at present, but he’s making assists at a much lower rate than last season, as he’s managed to make just two assists in his 10 Premier League appearances this term.
So, if renowned ‘survival specialist’ Allardyce is to guide the Baggies, who currently sit second-from-bottom of England’s top-flight, to safety, perhaps getting the best out of Pereira will be key for him and given his impressive history of helping clubs to avoid relegation, we feel that it’s understandable why Masi seemingly believes there is a good chance that he will succeed in doing this.