Express & Star

Ally Robertson column: All sides lost when Natahan Ferguson deal collapsed

It looks as though Nathan Ferguson’s career at Albion will come to a sad end in the summer.

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Nathan Ferguson of West Bromwich Albion celebrates after being named the SKYBET man of the match (AMA)

And that’s such a shame when you consider the journey he has been on in the space of just a few months.

Before Slaven Bilic arrived, he was all set to leave the club on loan.

But different managers see different things in players.

Slaven gave him an opportunity to play, he put him in the limelight.

You have to give Ferguson credit too, he has seized that chance.

But when it is Bilic and Albion who have made him, I think it’s wrong that he and his agent are now trying so hard to get a move out.

Nathan Ferguson of West Bromwich Albion and Kyle Edwards of West Bromwich Albion applaud the West Bromwich Albion Fans at the end of the match (AMA)

As we all know, his move to Palace collapsed due to a problem being discovered with his knee.

The two clubs had agreed to a deal worth £12million. And that’s the real frustration for me now, if Ferguson and his agent want to behave like this they can go. I’m just disappointed we missed out on the money.

We should still get some hefty compensation when he leaves as a free agent in the summer.

But it probably won’t be quite as high, so this is a situation where there are no winners.

We haven’t got the actual fee we negotiated, Palace haven’t got the player they want and Ferguson himself is left twiddling his thumbs at a club where he has upset a lot of people.

The youngster will now have surgery and that’ll probably rule him out for the rest of the season.

Even if it doesn’t, I bet Albion will say it has because there is now no need for him to be involved.

Nathan Ferguson of West Bromwich Albion scores a goal to make it 0-1 (AMA)

I don’t want to see a player playing for us who doesn’t want to be here. I certainly don’t want someone in the side who may not give his all when we are right in the thick of the promotion race.

In Darnell Furlong, Dara O’Shea and Lee Peltier we have enough competition at right-back anyway.

So it’s probably best Ferguson just focuses on his recovery and the players that want to be with us focus on getting us over the line.

We are in a position now where we just have to focus on ourselves.

There are 16 games left, starting with Millwall tomorrow. All of them are going to be tough.

But if we perform to our capabilities and do what we do well – we are good enough to go up.

It’s a tough six days we’ve got ahead with Millwall tomorrow, Reading on Wednesday and Forest on Saturday. But those fixtures have to be seen a real opportunity to kick on and send out a message that we are serious about winning promotion this year.