The Baggies manager has seen his summer buy come under scrutiny but has now called for time to allow the Nigerian acclimatize with his new surroundings at the Hawthorns
West Bromwich Albion fans have been told to exercise patience with club record summer signing Brown Ideye after the club suffered a 2-0 defeat at home to Everton on Saturday.
While former Baggies forward Romelu Lukaku did the harm, their new Nigerian forward has yet to
score since making his move in somewhat controversial circumstances after manager Alan Irvine claimed never to have seen him play before bringing the striker over.
He was substituted with Georgios Samaras in the 71st minute of the game.
Irvine has now stood up for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations winner, stating that he needs time to be able to match up to the prowess of Lukaku.
While Lukaku moved to Everton on a permanent basis for 28million Pounds, Ideye left Ukraine for West Brom at 10million Pounds.
“There's a big difference between the two of them, there's a big difference in terms of the money straight away," Irvine was quoted by the Birmingham Mail .
“There's also a big difference in terms of what they've had to go through to be at this point.
"Romelu, who clearly has the greatest of respect here because of the job that he did when he was here, is a player who understands the Premier League, he's done the pre-season and he spent last season playing for Everton, so he's not out of condition, trying to understand what is going on in this country.
"He's extremely settled at Everton, he understands exactly what is required of him, the Everton players understand what is required to play to his strengths as well, so it would be really difficult to judge Brown Ideye in the same way as you would Romelu.
"Brown has been one of the ones who has been thrown into the deep end a little bit early as far as I'm concerned but he'll benefit from that as it goes on.
"He shows good things in training and he needs me, the staff, to give him time to settle. It's been a big ask for him,” Irvine concluded.
Ideye has lost his place in the Nigeria squad having been dropped from the long list called up for the World Cup.
His move to West Brom in the highly watched English Premier League was expected to help make way for his return to the national side.