On Friday, West Brom signed defender Pipa on a season-long loan from Ludogorets.
After completing a deadline day loan move to West Bromwich Albion last week, Carlos Corberan has proclaimed that Pipa is fit and ready to go. On a day when the Baggies resisted interest in its key players despite the need to raise finances, Spaniard Pipa signed on loan from Ludogorets to add more natural depth to Albion’s full-back positions.
Pipa, 25, was at the game against former club Huddersfield Town on Saturday, when Albion were defeated in stoppage time by his and Corberan’s former employers, and he’ll now work with his new teammates and get used to his surroundings during the international break before Albion return to action at Bristol City later this month.
While he hasn’t played in a couple of months – Pipa played an hour in Ludogorets’ Champions League qualifier in mid-July and was given a similar run-out in their opening day defeat to Krumovgrad – Corberan is confident that, after a bedding-in period in the next fortnight, he’ll be ready to go when needed.
“He had a pre-season with Ludogorets, and he was playing in their competition,” Corberan explained. “He hasn’t competed in 15 days, but he’s been training with the group and is ready to play.”
“Pipa is a player I know very well because when I arrived to Huddersfield, I didn’t sign the player – Leigh Bromby was the one that decided they would sign him and I worked with him there. He was in Olympiakos and then Olympiakos signed me so I worked with him there.
“This is the first time that I support – always knowing the financial possibilities of the club – that the club has made an incredible and massive effort to keep the squad that we have right now. We find in Pipa a player that will adapt to our resources, with his qualities and our possibilities.”
What would Albion get from Pipa in terms of the player himself and his skill set, which Corberan is already familiar with having worked with him at two prior clubs?
“He’s an attacking full back with more offensive abilities than defensive abilities.” “He’s at ease with the ball,” Corberan concluded. “He’s a player I’m excited to work with because I believe he still has a lot of room for improvement.”
“This can be both a positive and a negative, but I want to work with him to close this gap and make him the most competitive player he can be.” The fact that he came from a difficult obstacle, or experience, at Ludogorets will be important to me.
