West Brom defender Cedric Kipre has spoken out on his upturn in form in the Championship this season.
It seems like an age ago since West Brom poached centre-back Kipre from Wigan Athletic.
The Baggies splashed nearly £1million on the Paris-born defender, but he didn’t hit the ground running at The Hawthorns.
His first season, the 2020/21 campaign, West Brom were a Premier League team and Kipre couldn’t get anywhere near the starting XI, ultimately leading to him being loaned out Chaleroi and then to Cardiff City last time round.
The 27-year-old impressed at Cardiff and returned to West Brom this season, and Carlos Corberan has since taken a liking to Kipre who’s played in all but one of the Baggies’ 22 Championship outings this season.
He’s thoroughly impressed as well, becoming a key player for West Brom.
Cedric Kipre with a ‘point to prove’ at West Brom
After a tough couple of years upon signing for West Brom, Kipre is now showing exactly why the club brought him in.
But he’s not getting ahead of himself and he knows there’s still a long way for him and West Brom to go this season.
Speaking to Express & Star, Kipre said about his recent praise:
“It’s been nice to see those things being said about me by the supporters, and people at the club as well. It shows they’re seeing the work I’m putting in so it is a nice feeling, but it’s a long season and I have to keep going with that now.
“The places I went gave me game time when I needed it but I’m back now and still have a point to prove at Albion because I wasn’t playing much here the year before, but I’m happy the manager trusts me to play as many games as I have so far.”
And Kipre then had his say on Corberan, adding:
“This is my proper chance now and the fact I’ve been playing so many games can only help me. I’ve had many managers since I’ve been at Albion but Carlos has been great for me, he believes in me, we speak a lot, he always tries to improve me and every single player is good and I’m very happy worth how things have been going.”
The Carlos Corberan effect
Corberan is not only proving himself as a master tactician, but he’s someone who seems to always get the best out of his players.
Kipre worked under numerous West Brom managers; Slaven Bilic, Sam Allardyce, Valerien Ismael, and Steve Bruce, but only Corberan really favoured the defender.
And bringing Kipre into the side has been like a new signing for the Baggies this season.
Alongside Kyle Bartley who’s also enjoyed a rejuvenated spell in the side, West Brom have a very formidable centre-pairing, and now Kipre is one of the first names in the XI.
He owes a lot to Corberan for bringing him back into the side, but Corberan also owes a lot of thanks to Kipre for keeping the belief that he could eventually work his way into the team, after a tough few years at the club beforehand.
Up next for West Brom is a trip to Middlesbrough this weekend.