Albion star Jerome Thomas has lifted the lid on how he was inspired to play football by a teenage meeting with Pele.

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The Baggies winger came face-to-face with the Brazil legend when he was just 13.

And Thomas says the special meeting gave him a nudge to chase his own football dreams.

“My auntie works for CNN and she managed to arrange for me to meet him when I was 13,” revealed Thomas.

“She was interviewing him and I got to go along to meet him and speak to him myself with a friend from school.

“When I was younger the big argument used to be who was better, Pele or Maradona? My family always thought Pele.

“So it was great to meet him as I had watched so much footage of him growing up. I’ve still got the video of me asking Pele some questions.”

Thomas is already becoming a firm favourite with the Hawthorns faithful despite the red card episode in the Carling Cup at Arsenal that ruled him out for three matches.

Three goals in his last three Championship appearances for Thomas have helped his new side collect wins against Middlesbrough and Reading.

Aside from his football heroes, Thomas has also revealed how music drives him on in his career.

Thomas’s cousin Kane Robinson is a MOBO and Brit Award-nominated rapper known as Kano who ‘name-checked’ the Baggies wideman in his 2007 track London Town.