by Mark Bassey

West Brom manager Alan Irvine, has confessed that he never watched Brown Ideye play, before splashing a club-record £10m on the striker.

Ideye completed his move to the Baggies from Dynamo Kiew this week, with the Premier League team almost doubling the £6m they paid for Stephane Sessegnon – their previous biggest spend.

Irvine admits he also saw a DVD of the Nigeria international, but is optimistic he can replicate the form of his compatriot Peter Osaze Odemwingie at the Hawthorns.

“It would be fantastic if he could have the same impact as Peter Odemwingie did,” Irvine said.

“I don’t know much about Brown Ideye – I’ve not seen him live, but people we trust have done.”

“It’s not necessarily something that is detrimental to me not to have seen him live, though ideally I would like to because that’s how I like to do my work.

“But we’ve done our research on him and what we have done is found decent players in the past in this way.”

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