One of the best players at Cardiff City before to moving to West Bromwich Albion was Kenneth Zohore.
Before signing a permanent contract, the Danish striker spent one season on loan at Cardiff City Stadium. He played there for four seasons total. This included a year in the Premier League, where his goals contributed to the team’s 2017 promotion to the top division under Neil Warnock.
In the season that saw the Bluebirds relegated at the first attempt, he scored just one Premier League goal. However, he scored nine goals in the promotion year. Even though Zohore had injury problems and was scoring goals in the top division, clubs took notice of him that summer.
For £8 million in the summer of 2019, West Brom acquired Zohore.
In July 2019, Zohore moved to fellow Championship team West Brom following Cardiff’s Premier League relegation. It is the third-highest transfer fee the club has ever received for a player, with the move apparently costing £8 million.
Though it felt like a steep price to pay, it was only two years ago that West Brom signed the striker from Everton for whom Warnock had sought £30 million. In order to avoid losing the 25-year-old to a free transfer the next year, the Bluebirds had to sell him that summer with just one year remaining on his four-year contract that he signed in 2016.
Zohore’s Cardiff stats were nothing special.Although his 24 goals and 11 assists in 101 games may not seem outstanding, his overall play was what made him so valuable. He was an excellent target man because of his strength, quickness, and power, which made him a great option up front. Because of his excellent ball handling, wingers Junior Hoilett and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing were frequently able to contribute more to the game.
| Kenneth Zohore’s Cardiff City statistics – Transfermarkt | ||||
| Appearances | Starts | Minutes | Goals | Assists |
| 101 | 67 | 6246 | 24 | 11 |
The Bluebirds did not make the best use of the fee, even if it appeared to be a decent one.Robert Glatzel and Isaac Vassell, who they purchased as replacements, did not make an impression when they were at the Cardiff City Stadium.
However, that does not imply that the Baggies had a successful transfer on their end.
He struggled for West Brom before leaving the club
It’s difficult to characterize Zohore’s tenure at West Brom as anything other than a complete disaster.He signed a rumored £8 million contract with such promise, but his performances fell well short of repaying that amount.
Ankles ravaged his first year at the Hawthorns.He only made 17 appearances in the Championship due to a calf issue, and his goal return of just three strikes was unimpressive.Although Zohore’s performances only resulted in a loan back down to the second division with Millwall, the Baggies did achieve promotion to the Premier League that season.
The next season, he rejoined the team, but he only played twice for the Baggies. Subsequently, he underwent another unsatisfactory loan at Odense, a Danish Superliga team, until the club kindly ended his contract in January 2023 to minimize their losses on the high-profile acquisition.
Zohore featured in just 23 games across all competitions during his four years at the Hawthorns.His five goals overall represent a pitiful return for a striker who spent £8 million, with an average of £1.6 million for each goal scored. Despite having a disastrous start to his career at the club due to injuries, he was never able to make an impression on the field and was never able to win over his management.
Zohore is now looking for a club as a free agent. Even at thirty, he might still have many football years ahead of him. The forward clearly made the wrong decision by moving to West Brom, as he never made the same kind of impression on the Baggies as he did during his four years at Cardiff.
It must still be hurting West Brom to have paid such a large transfer fee.Even now, Zohore is still their 11th-highest acquisition ever, so the Baggies must be really troubled by having to shell out so much cash for a player who will hardly ever play.
GET MORE NEWS HERE