'First class' Gera returns

02 August 2011 15:04
Fans' favourite signs on a Bosman Albion have completed the signing of fans favourite Zoltan Gera on a free transfer. The midfielder rejoins the Baggies on a two-year contract, plus a year in the club’s favour, after leaving to join Fulham in 2008. Baggies boss Roy Hodgson is a long term admirer of the 32-year-old having taken him from The Hawthorns to Craven Cottage. Gera played a prominent part under Hodgson and was voted Fulham’s Player-of-the-Season in 2009/2010. Hodgson reveals Gera was always a target in his mind after his time at Fulham, and at Albion prior to that. "The last time he played at West Bromwich Albion he was a very popular figure with everyone at the club, not least of all the fans,” said the Baggies boss. "I of course know him well and admired him in the two years we worked together at Fulham, where he was an integral part of the team that did well during those years. "I think it is a massive coup for the club that we have been able to persuade him to come back to West Brom despite the many other offers he had, because he is a player that is widely appreciated in the Premier League and abroad. "I think it is an excellent signing and he is a player I hope will do as well in the coming seasons as he has done in the past seasons with West Brom and Fulham. "In Zoltan Gera we've acquired not only a first-class player but a first-class person and we think that's also important to the way we want the club to move forward." Are you glad to have Gera back at The Hawthorns? Have your say here at Baggies Banter.

Source: FOOTYMAD