Roberto Di Matteo labelled 2010 West Brom recruit as "exciting" - He was proved right in a big way | OneFootball

Former Baggies boss Roberto Di Matteo’s first words on Peter Odemwingie were justified after his superb spell at The Hawthorns.

Over the past 20 years, West Brom have been a club fighting either towards the top end of the Championship or competing to survive in the Premier League.

The Baggies were highly successful in the top-flight over the last decade, undergoing an impressive eight-year straight stay in the top flight between 2010-2018.

Much of Albion’s joy of toppling England’s most prestigious sides was down to the recruitment team, with the Black Country outfit bagging some memorable talent that will live in long in the memory of Baggies supporters.

One signing who springs to mind is former Nigerian international Peter Odemwingie, who linked up at The Hawthorns back in 2010 from Russian outfit Lokomotiv Moscow.

Upon his arrival, then-Albion boss Roberto Di Matteo offered an optimistic outlook on the frontman, and he was fully justified by his three-year stint in B71.

Roberto Di Matteo’s comments about Peter Odemwingie

Signing on the dotted line for a reported fee of £2.5 million and on a three-year deal, Roberto Di Matteo gave West Brom supporters a taste of what they could expect from Peter Odemwingie, and his assessment was pretty accurate of what transpired on the pitch.

Reported by the Guardian at the time, Di Matteo said: "I'm delighted to welcome Peter to the club.

"He is an exciting international, has a great CV, and I'm sure seeing a player of his calibre coming into the club will give everyone a lift.

"Peter has got great pace, is two-footed, scores goals and has good experience at a very high level. We've brought him in as a striker, but he can also play out wide, which gives me options. When he was in France [Lille from 2005-07] he played very much up front on his own, whereas for Nigeria he's played wide and sometimes in a central role.

"His last game was only last midweek for Nigeria and the Russian league is already under way, so he should be in good shape for the challenge ahead."

Peter Odemwingie would back up the optimism with a stellar West Brom spell

The Uzbeskistan-born forward would go on to repay the faith shown by Roberto Di Matteo and undergo the best goalscoring return of his career at The Hawthorns.

The marksman recorded 15 goals and nine assists from 32 top flight outings, helping land West Brom to an 11th-placed finish.

In his second campaign, Odemwingie would be slightly less prolific but would reach double figures yet again, with an iconic hat-trick at Molineux inflicting a 5-1 defeat on bitter Black Country rivals Wolves etching him into West Brom folklore.

His third season would end on a sour note, however, infamously turning up at QPR’s training ground on Deadline Day, a moment that has been well documented and mentioned often during transfer windows. The Nigerian was refused entry by the R's as no official deal could be agreed between the two clubs.

The situation led to Odemwingie staying in the West Midlands that season, but most of his 25 appearances were off the substitutes bench, prompting him to grow even more frustrated and develop a fragmented relationship between himself and the supporters.

In a disappointing ending for both Odemwingie and the Baggies, the forward eventually departed in the 2013/14 season to Cardiff City, with Albion’s number 24 netting 31 times and registering 16 assists from 90 first-team appearances.

Peter Odemwingie will go down as one of West Brom’s greatest-ever bargain buys

For such a low sum of money spent, West Brom certainly wouldn’t have expected Peter Odemwingie to have such a significant impact at the club as he ended up having.

Recruiting a lethal finisher who could reach double figures for goals in consecutive Premier League seasons is a very tough ask, but the Albion recruitment team worked wonders to help give the club enough goals at the top end of the pitch to secure regular top flight football for seasons to come.

Despite his head turning elsewhere during his third season to the frustration of the supporters, the majority of Odemwingie’s spell allowed the club to thrive financially and cement themselves as Premier League regulars, with the fragmented hostility between the forward and the fans no longer present.