West Brom midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah was spotted having a heated exchange with Baggies fans as Carlos Corberan’s side were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Stoke, according to Birmingham Live.
The newspaper reported on their website (9 August) that the former Chelsea midfielder made a rude gesture towards the travelling fans as he and the rest of the Baggies team headed down the tunnel at halftime at the BET365 Stadium.
Chalobah had looked set to depart the Hawthorns this summer with a move to Maccabi Haifa on the cards before a late change of mind prevented that deal from occurring, but he hasn’t been the most popular within the West Brom fanbase having put in daily indifferent performances since his arrival in January.
Discussing the incident in Stoke, Joseph Chapman wrote: “There was an exchange of sorts between Albion midfielder Chalobah and a group of supporters towards the bottom of the allocation, and a gesture made by the midfielder, as he and the rest of the Albion team made their way down the tunnel at half time.
“What took place [whatever was said from either side of the terraces] were unpalatable, regrettable and, clearly, not wanted at a time when Albion’s staff and squad have been promoting a unified, siege mentality in pre-season amid their off-field challenges.”
On the pitch, the start to the season has been far from ideal for Corberan, with the Baggies conceding from their own kick off’s twice already this campaign and not winning either of their two opening fixtures and the last thing he will need is more off the field drama.
Corberan’s transfer budget has already been limited by a lack of investment from the West Brom ownership and therefore he has had to be creative in the transfer market where his hands have been mostly tied and restricted to loan deals and free transfers.
The united front he had created and the siege mentality needs to be adopted by the entire squad and fanbase to produce success and if Chalobah is already producing some cracks in that mindset, it could be damaging to the entire team.
However, there is never an excuse to abuse a player as they head down the tunnel, even if they have been having an indifferent game and ultimately we don’t know what was said for the 28-year-old to react in the way in which he did, either way, both the fans and Corberan will be hoping this sort of reaction isn’t something we see again at the Hawthorns this season.
