West Brom: Valerien Ismael must axe Kenneth Zohore in January | OneFootball

In recent comments cited by Birmingham Live, West Bromwich Albion manager Valerien Ismael suggested that, despite having played a bit-part role at The Hawthorns so far this season, Kenneth Zohore could well still have a role to play for the Baggies.

Speaking about the centre-forward’s standing in his squad ahead of the January transfer window, Ismael said: “At the minute it’s early – you never know what can happen. You see with Kean [Bryan], that situation. In the next game, there could be another situation and the player is involved in the game.

“Just patience, work, he wants to play every time with the U23s which is a good sign. He wants to stay in the rhythm. He trains well. He is our player so everyone needs to be involved, stay focused and involved and you never know.”

Should Albion look to sell Zohore in January?

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Zohore must go

While Ismael’s suggestion that Zohore could still prove to be a useful part of his Albion squad if one of his favoured forwards becomes unavailable due to injury or suspension is perhaps sensible, it is nevertheless an unavoidable fact that, so far in his West Brom career, the 27-year-old has simply not been good enough.

Indeed, after making an £8.01m move to the Baggies back in 2019, the £1.8m-rated man failed to impress over his 17 Championship appearances in his debut campaign, scoring three goals, providing no assists and missing four big chances, as well as hitting the target with an average of just 0.6 shots per game.

These returns saw the player who Neil Warnock once dubbed an “outstanding” talent average a SofaScore match rating of just 6.67, ranking him as Albion’s fourth-worst performer in the league that season.

The £16.5k-per-week striker then endured an equally disappointing loan spell at Millwall last year, scoring two goals over 17 Championship appearances for the Lions, before returning to The Hawthorns this summer.

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Furthermore, so far this season, Zohore has found himself left out of each of Ismael’s matchday squads since the second fixture of the campaign against Luton Town, a fixture in which the 46-year-old Albion boss was furious with the 27-year-old’s efforts upon his introduction to the game.

As such, considering the 6 foot 3 striker’s below-par performances and rather hefty weekly wage, Ismael simply must axe the centre-forward this winter, as he is undoubtedly becoming something of a burden for the club.