The summer of 2008 was an important for those connected with West Bromwich Albion.
After spending two years in the lower league, the Baggies had just won the Championship, earning them a spot back in the Premier League. Consequently, the focus would have been on bolstering manager Tony Mowbray’s first-team roster at The Hawthorns in order to make sure they could compete in the premier league. At the end of the 2008 summer transfer window, West Brom would bring in 10 new senior players.
Jonas Olsson was among the final people to arrive into the club during that time.
West Brom got a bargain deal with Jonas Olsson
On the last day of the summer transfer window that year, Olsson, who was playing for NEC Nijmegen in the Netherlands, was officially signed by the Baggies. The center back was reportedly signed by the Midlands club for approximately £800,000 from the Eredivisie team. The Sweden international initially signed a two-year contract to play at The Hawthorns. It’s interesting to note that the amount paid by West Brom was not much more than the €750,000 that Nijmegen reportedly paid to sign him from Swedish team Landskrona BolS three years prior.
The Dutch side might have thought that they lost out on a much larger gain from the sale of Olsson to the Baggies, given what would transpire over the next few years. That won’t have worried anyone associated with West Brom, though, as they still undoubtedly consider the center back’s signing to be a huge deal at that price.
Jonas Olsson became a Baggies icon
It must be said that Olsson’s first campaign at The Hawthorns did not go well at all for West Brom, who finished last in the league and were immediately demoted. But even though that led to several important players quitting the team in the summer of 2009, Olsson persisted and assumed a crucial leadership position within the group. The 2009–10 season saw him play a significant part on the field as West Brom secured a quick return to the Premier League by finishing second in the Championship.
But for West Brom, things would be different in the top division come campaign-after campaign. Olsson’s defensive center was a major factor in the Baggies’ ability to stave off another swift relegation from the premier league. Rather, they finished the season comfortably in the middle of the table, a performance that would carry over for the whole of the Swede’s stay at the team. Olsson’s tenure at The Hawthorns saw West Brom never again fall below of the top division following his two seasons of promotion and relegation.
During that time, they hardly ever ended a campaign with the fear of relegation hanging over them, and the center back undoubtedly contributed to making sure that didn’t happen. For the majority of his tenure at West Brom, Olsson was a consistent member of the team, making well over 250 appearances across all competitions. In March 2017, following just under nine years with the team, his contract was terminated by mutual consent.
Due to his unwavering dedication to the cause and the example he set for others in that regard, the Swede had become a very well-liked figure in the club during that period. Later in his tenure at The Hawthorns, he faced competition from players like Joleon Lescott and Johnny Evans for a center-back spot, but he persisted in doing his part for the team, even if it meant filling in at left-back, a position that was less comfortable and more foreign. Olsson’s contributions were so crucial to the Baggies’ success over what is, by far, their longest season in the Premier League since the 1980s.
Even back then, the £800,000 fee seemed inexpensive for a Premier League club, but when combined with the iconic figure he created at the time, it turned out to be money very well spent by West Brom.
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