Who the hell is Andwele Slory?

This free signing by West Brom looks to be another astute gamble by Dan Ashworth and Roberto Di Matteo and is quite possibly a diamond in the rough.

Andwele is 27 and,after a long injury last season, is fit and has had a quite good first half of the season.

The situation at Feyenoord is that he had an option in his contract so the management had a choice: either to take up that option and bind him for another year or decline so that he would be available for free transfer.

Slory joined Feyenoord from Excelsior in 2007 and the attacking midfielder has scored 54 goals in 201 league appearances since beginning his career in Holland with Stormvogels Telstar in the 2001-02 season.



The twice-capped Dutch international appeared to be surplus to requirements at Feyenoord at the beginning of this season, but, in December, head coach Mario Been considered him an important first team member following a string of good performances.

That at least was the case until Nigerian winger Haruna Babangida arrived in Rotterdam for a trial period: "We will probably not sign him (Babangida ) unless we sell someone else,' said Feyenoord coach Mario Been to Sportweek. That someone else appeared to be Slory.

Not only is the club keen to reduce their wage bill but they are also reported to be disgruntled by the striker`s recent spat of disciplinary problems. The most memorable of which was the much publicized kerfuffle with teammate Karim El Ahmadi during the pre-season.

Clearly this player has immense talent; let's just hope he can adjust to life in the Championship and prove to be another astute piece of Albion transfer dealing.

STOP PRESS: Pending international clearance, Slory could be cleared to play on Wednesday night at Blackpool.

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