[gazberg]

Dood suggesting this may be announced tomorrow

Said he's already training with us just had visa issues to sort.

[Hunnington Baggie]

Signed and on the website

[hardtobeat]

Anywhere near what he can be and is going to be a great help over the last dozen or so games !

[OldburyWBA]

Signed until the end of the season

https://www.wba.co.uk/news/albion-sign-experienced-midfielder-yann-mvila-short-term-deal

Albion have signed experienced French midfielder Yann M’Vila on a short-term deal until the end of the season.

The 33-year-old, who worked with Carlos Corberán at Olympiacos in 2022, has represented several clubs across Europe over the course of his career, including Rennes, Rubin Kazan, Internazionale, Sunderland and Saint-Étienne.

M’Vila has also been capped 22 times by his national team, appearing for Les Bleus at UEFA EURO 2012.

He has been handed the number 22 shirt.

And Yann says he can’t wait to work with the Baggies head coach once again.

He said: “I know the manager Carlos Corberán really well and he knows me really well because we worked together before in Greece at Olympiakos.

“It was a pleasure to work with him and I’m really pleased to be back with him again now.

“He contacted me and asked me to come here and straight away, I said yes.”

Corberán believes this particular signing provides an important boost to his midfield options for the remainder of the 2023/24 campaign.

Carlos said: “We’ve picked up an injury to Jayson Molumby and that left us without as many options as we would like in the middle.

“Yann is a really positive option to have. He arrives with plenty of experience and with plenty of desire and motivation to help us.

“We will need to be patient with him from a fitness point of view as he has been a free agent since the summer, but we know he has the determination to be ready for what will be an important few months.”

[BagAlbion123]

An experienced midfielder that Sunderland fans are upset they didn't get, to get us over the line is better than playing a youth that will end up in league 2 a few years later

[Dan]

On a short term deal hopefully its relatively low money gamble, although our track record with these kind of free transfers in recent years is absolutely horrendous.

Still, with Molumby out we do look pretty light in central midfield options, though im skeptical someone who last had a club last season, and is 33, is going to be able to add much in the short time we have left this season.

Dood suggesting this may be announced tomorrow

Said he's already training with us just had visa issues to sort.

I see he was wrong again (this post dates back to Thursday), but is there really any point keep quoting him?

How he has the brass to keep pretending to be ITK after that Reggie Cannon farce is beyond me. Let alone previous claims like Bartley had been released.

[smethwickw]

A great pedigree but the fact that he's not played this season is worrying. I don't expect we'll see much of him unless he's kept himself in top condition.

[skyclad99]

We all trust CC so shall we just give him a chance lads?

[gazberg]

Welcome to the club Yann, the comments about his fitness worry me a little, how long should we be patient with him for?

[Standaman]

There are two things that can be true at the same time

M'Villa might be a useful addition for the final run in.

As a club our squads have been too heavily skewed towards post peak players for over a decade and we have a poor record of providing pathways into the first team for young players. That has to change.

In the context of realistic shot of the play-offs this is kind of okay but if we weren't in contention then I would be dismayed by the same signing.

[merson94]

I'm sure if the club have worries about his fitness I highly doubt they would've continued with the deal, surely severe lack of fitness would get picked up in any medical? However, im sure he may struggle with game rust more than anything. Good signing though for a short term deal in my view.

[KN22]

I think people need to realise that despite us now wanting it to be true, the kids are just not good enough / ready yet

You are absolutely right. Some real prospects but the only one who’s completely ready is in the squad every week.

[ex coseley kid]

M'Villa might be a useful addition for the final run in.

Stan! Please correct this spelling... it's causing me distress....

[wba_1996]

My point was that they aint  no worse than reach

As bad as Reach is, they objectively are worse players than him. This is the M'Vila thread though, so that's irrelevant, and unfortunately we don't have a central midfielder in the academy who is currently better than a 33 year old Yann M'Vila.

[DevonInStripes]

Welcome to the club Yann and trust your stay will be beneficial to the club . On the tack of Malcolm v Marshall . I’ve called for Malcolm to have been given the nod over Marshall as to date Malcolm has scored at first team level and I don’t believe Marshall has done and certainly on what we’ve seen so far , will struggle to do so for us to any extent that makes his signing a worthwhile one .

[bangkokbaggie]

Not sure what benefit this signing is ignoring the age factor. How many weeks will it take to get him match fit, we could be talking well into April.

[tegga]

Not sure what benefit this signing is ignoring the age factor. How many weeks will it take to get him match fit, we could be talking well into April.

This is what I am also wondering, although I shouldn't think it will take to April.

[johnny Cash]

Not sure about the value in this, but if you read the Sunderland forum you'd think we had signed their golden child at his peak. He must have been some player for them 9 years ago considering the reaction to us signing him at 33, having not played for 6 months. 

[Albion79]

I think this is a sensible signing, especially the contract length.

Corberan has obviously learnt from this time last year that we miss Yokoslu more than anyone, we tried bodging it last year and it cost us.

Yok is our best player in my opinion, his only real weakness is his stamina and thats probably stopped him playing higher than he already had, he commands the midfield, M'Vila is a similar type of player and was of similar quality.

Obviously he is older and not played for a while but i would imagine his role will be come on as sub and  give Yok a break when possible.

I imagine his sub roles will gradually increase in time length so build up his match fitness that way, if it was a long term deal might be concerned but its short term low risk and not sure you will get many free agents of similar quality to M'Vila who are fully match fit.

I know people shout for the youngsters but although we have some good ones, we dont have any who play the Yokoslu role, if Mowatt or Chabloah get injured we will probably see Whitwell on the bench.

People may say CC doesnt like youth but i disagree, our two  highest rated youngsters Taylor and Whitwell have been unlucky as they  actually play in positions where we have been really strong this season, Mowatt and Kipre have been bonuses and you would be hard picked to drop any of those two or Bartley and Yok based on form this season.

[WBAinDEVON]

ready for the playoffs hopefully

[BalisPen]

He must have impressed CC a lot in his short stint with Olympiacos,  for him to bring him with his current fitness levels.

Hopefully, he will be fit and firing in a couple of weeks.

[gazberg]

CC says not ready yet but not that far away.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/yann-mvila-update-midfielder-closer-28730453


"He'll have built the extra level that he needed to have to, let's say, be available. How ready? Still I will see. He has shown some of his level, yes, but still we have two different days in front of us, and after these I think he'll be an option to add to the squad. Right now, still no, but we are not far."

Assume by differnet days he means games?

[SmethDan]

CC says not ready yet but not that far away.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/yann-mvila-update-midfielder-closer-28730453


"He'll have built the extra level that he needed to have to, let's say, be available. How ready? Still I will see. He has shown some of his level, yes, but still we have two different days in front of us, and after these I think he'll be an option to add to the squad. Right now, still no, but we are not far."

Assume by differnet days he means games?

Rather than one or two days or games I think he’s suggesting one of two possibilities as an outcome following two 10 v 10 games and the necessary sprints and recovery sprints. As in availability will be dependent on the recovery rate following his second 10 v 10.

[phbaggies]

Has he had any minutes for the reserves since he signed?

[gazberg]

Rather than one or two days or games I think he’s suggesting one of two possibilities as an outcome following two 10 v 10 games and the necessary sprints and recovery sprints. As in availability will be dependent on the recovery rate following his second 10 v 10.

Cheers Dan, makes more sense than my idea