West Bromwich Albion haven't been the most entertaining team to watch in the Championship this season, lacking a Crysencio Summerville-style figure in their ranks like Leeds United possess to regularly wow Baggies supporters.
With the likes of Ipswich Town also scoring 90 goals plus compared to West Brom's goalscoring numbers finishing at just 70, the West Midlands outfit have been steady if a little unspectacular under the careful approach of Carlos Corberan this campaign.
Baggies supporters would love to turn back time and have this explosive star back on their books therefore to raise current excitement levels, with the player in question dazzling second-tier defences for fun when donning a West Brom strip in the early noughties.
Jason Koumas' time at West Brom
Joining in 2002 from Tranmere Rovers, attacking midfielder Jason Koumas would later go down as a cult hero in West Brom quarters for his efforts at the club.
The skilful Welshman would relocate to the West Midlands having bagged 33 goals from 200 games playing in the Wirral, keen to kick on and star for the then Premier League Baggies after leaving his former League One employers behind.
He wouldn't ever really shine at that level for West Brom – only managing to fire in six Premier League goals across his entire career – but it was in the Championship where Koumas would start to pick up stunning goal after stunning goal to add to his Baggies back catalogue.
Koumas' final campaign for West Brom would prove to be his most impactful, picking up an impressive nine goals and 15 assists from 44 games in all competitions before then moving on Wigan.
Going on to be capped 33 times by his country, the only real regret on Koumas' end – who was once described as "mercurial" by Guardian journalist Leon Barton – when his career was over must have been his ineffectiveness to continue playing at the very top in England after making the Championship his playground at points.
The Baggies certainly reaped the rewards from the bargain £2.25m deal in 2002 regardless of Koumas cursing his luck at Premier League level, pulling off the golden move at the best possible time according to Totally Money's Transfer Index.
Totally Money have taken the 100 most expensive transfers of all time across each season since 1992 in Europe's top five leagues. Armed with plenty of historical financial data they have calculated what footballers of yesteryear would be worth in the present day after taking into account the remarkable rate of inflation.
Jason Koumas' transfer value in 2024
If the same deal between Tranmere and West Brom happened today with inflated costs taken into account, Koumas would cost £11m and no longer look like such a steal.
That would make the now-retired midfielder the most expensive asset in the current West Brom camp by some distance, with Jed Wallace coming in at an inferior £3.5m according to Football Transfers expected transfer value model as the most costly member of Corberan's troops.
West Brom arguably got everything they could out of Koumas as the perfect possible time therefore, with the ex-Cardiff man still remembered to this day for being a maverick at the Hawthorns from his four enthralling seasons at the club before leaving for Wigan.
Grady Diangana can play this role of being an explosive and unpredictable attacker on his day like Koumas in the present, but Corberan will want more of his men to step up and excite supporters, especially with the lottery of the Championship playoffs up next.
Market Movers
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