Yann the man to ease injury concerns
IT didn’t take long for Yann M’Vila to declare his interest in reuniting with Carlos Corberan at Albion.
The midfielder has signed a deal until the end of the season after Jayson Molumby was ruled out with a foot injury, which has required surgery.
That left Corberan with only three senior central midfielders – Okay Yokuslu, Alex Mowatt and Nathaniel Chalobah – so the club have recruited M’Vila on a short-term contract.
The Frenchman, whose previous experience of English football came predominantly under Sam Allardyce at Sunderland in 2015-16, was previously with Olympiakos – where he briefly worked under Corberan – but hasn’t played since the end of last season. The 33-year-old will now spend a little time getting up to speed.
“We’ve picked up an injury to Molumby and that left us without as many options as we would like,” said Corberan.
“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.”
M’Vila has also played for Rubin Kazan, Inter Milan and St Etienne in a career which has seen him earn 22 caps for France.
“I know the manager really well and he knows me really well because we worked together before at Olympiakos,” said M’Vila.
“It was a pleasure to work with him and I’m really pleased to be back with him.
“He contacted me and asked me to come here and, straight away, I said, ‘Yes’.”