Nigeria international striker Brown Ideye clearly is a man reborn.
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On January 31, he seemed doomed to exit the Hawthorns in disgrace after West Bromwich Albion announced they had reached an agreement with Qatari club Al Gharafa to ship the striker out of the club.
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A deal to bring West Ham striker Carlton Cole to WBA – ostensibly as Ideye’s replacement – however collapsed at the last minute and the Nigerian got an unexpected lifeline.
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He did take to Twitter shortly after the closure of the January transfer window to dismiss speculations linking him with a move to the club, but to the more hardened followers of events of recent months, Ideye was only playing the diplomatic card.
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The 26-year-old, who was much maligned for scoring just one league goal in the first half of the season, has answered his critics in the best possible way- through performances on the pitch.
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He scored with a stunning header to clinch a point for the Baggies in the 2-2 draw against Burnley at Turf Moore on February 8 and followed it up with an even stronger display against Swansea City on Wednesday night.
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Ideye was by far and away WBA’s most decisive player against Gary Monk’s men, contributing a goal and an assist as the Baggies romped to a 2-0 win in front of delirious faithful at the Hawthorns.
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It’s been a highly emotional week for the Nigerian; he went down on his knees, threw two arms to the heavens after scoring on Wednesday before he was mobbed by his teammates.
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After the game, he thanked the fans and all who stood by him in his moments of difficulty and spoke about the importance of claiming maximum points from the game.
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“It was good to get a goal and an assist (against Swansea on Wednesday). We knew how important this game was.
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“We spoke to ourselves before kickoff and I am happy to say we got it right,” he told ITV after the game.
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He also claimed that the goal was “lucky” as his intentions were read by the Swansea’s defenders.
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“I saw Saido (Berahino) with the ball and knew he was going to pass to me.
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“I think the (Swansea) defenders) read my intentions and came sliding in but I got lucky and smashed it in,” he said.
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The WBA fans are slowly warming up to their record signing and sang his name several times on Wednesday, much to the delight of the Nigerian striker.
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