West Brom manager Roy Hodgson has spoken of his fight to bring Zoltan Gera back to the Midlands from former club Fulham and says he expects ‘big things’ from the forward.
Gera played for the Baggies for four years from 2004 and established himself as a firm favourite amongst the fans with some industrious performances.
But Hodgson admitted it had been difficult to bring his new signing back to the club, claiming that Fulham were keen to keep hold of him.
Speaking to reporters, Hodgson revealed: “The change of management at Fulham almost spoiled things for us in the sense that they made it very clear when the new manager came in, and Ray Lewington got promoted once again to first-team coach, that they really wanted to keep him.
“Luckily, he still wanted to come and join us, so it was a big signing [for us].
“Zoltan is one of the big signings of this transfer window for me and I expect big things from him.
“It was never close to not happening because he’d made up his mind he wanted to come here and work with me again.
“But he had to listen to plenty of overtures to try to get him to change his mind.”
Hodgson is hoping that Gera will be available to make his second Baggies’ debut next Sunday when they face Norwich at Carrow Road as he makes his long-awaited comeback from an injury he sustained in the final game of last season.
The manager is also keen to see the Hungarian add some much needed competition to his midfield. He continued: “It will be a great advantage having him available.
“He did ever so well at Fulham.
“He became every bit as much a favourite with the fans there as he was during his first spell here.
“Zoltan will produce extra competition in an area that I must say is already very, very strong because we also in effect have a new player in Graham Dorrans this year.
“He [Dorrans] played very little part in my time at the club last season because he was injured.”
Sign up with bet365 for a free bet up to £200
More:
Roy Hodgson: I fought hard to bring Zoltan Gera back to West Brom and I expect results