West Bromwich Albion were resoundingly beaten by Danny Rohl's Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 last match, as Carlos Corberan attempts now to inject confidence back into this troops before the crucial Championship final day.
The Baggies are in danger of slipping out of the playoffs if they're not careful, clinging onto sixth spot precariously now with Hull City breathing down their necks in seventh just two points behind them.
It's time for heroes to step up and be counted in the West Midlands, with the Baggies in desperate need of a talent like this former star in the here and now who was key to West Brom moving up to the Premier League once upon a time.
Zoltan Gera's time at West Brom
Playing for the Baggies across two spells, with 191 games amassed in total at the Hawthorns, it's fair to say Zoltan Gera's name, to this day, is uttered in the legend category in West Brom quarters.
Gera's first spell saw him explode into life straight away playing in England, scoring six goals from 38 games during his debut campaign despite the Baggies competing in the tough demands of the Premier League.
This first impactful season even saw then West Brom manager Gary Megson describe Gera as "terrific" and a "blinding" individual to have around the group, going on to become a major fan's favourite at the Hawthorns.
Signed for just £1.5m from his native Hungary back in 2004, the deal continued to look like an absolute bargain throughout his initial four-season stay with his peak coming during the 2007/08 campaign where his side would lift the Championship title.
The Hungarian midfielder would help himself to 17 goal contributions in all competitions that season, becoming a key cog in the promotion machine that would end up being second-tier champions.
Corberan is crying out for a similar figure like Gera in his current camp, with the likes of Jed Wallace and Grady Diangana shirking the spotlight as of late when their team need a driving force going forward to get them over the line to secure a spot in the playoffs.
The £1.5m deal to bring Gera into the building from Ferencvárosi TC, in today's inflated market, would still feel like a steal when examining TotallyFootball's Transfer Index.
Totally Money have taken the 100 most expensive transfers of all time across each season since 1992 in Europe's top five leagues. Armed with plenty of historical financial data they have calculated what footballers of yesteryear would be worth in the present day after taking into account the remarkable rate of inflation.
Gera's transfer value in 2024
If this same deal went through in 2024, West Brom would still only be paying £7.2m to win Gera's services – according to TotallyFootball – which is a cheap deal when you look over how important the Hungarian midfielder was for the Baggies over his many years at the club.
To add further context, the aforementioned Diangana would cost £12m to get him into the building back in 2020 who has struggled to be as consistent and impactful as Gera managed to be over his stay in the West Midlands to date.
From 164 games, Diangana has impressively amassed 22 goals and 19 assists to his credit. But, he's still some way off the levels of adoration West Brom fans gave to Gera with the Hungarian getting to 29 goals and 20 assists overall by the time he called a day on his Baggies career.
West Brom will hope, if they can manage to win promotion despite poor recent results, that they can get in another golden deal like Gera and not fall victim to reckless overspending which has cost them dear in the top-flight before.
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