Club News

Boss: Stephane needs no extra incentive

Clarke on attacking midfielder ahead of potential debut against former club

STEVE Clarke says Stephane Sessegnon would be relishing Saturday’s game regardless of it being against Sunderland - the club he left to join the Baggies on transfer deadline day.

The Benin international was yesterday granted a work permit and is now set to make his Baggies debut against the Black Cats.

And Clarke insists the attacking-midfielder already has enough motivation for the Hawthorns clash without having to draw on Black Cats boss Paolo Di Canio’s critical words of him in the media this week.

“I won’t have to motivate Stephane,” said the Albion head coach, who has tipped Sessegnon to entertain the fans.

“He’s got a new club, he’s got a new challenge.

“You can see every day in training he’s excited about the prospect of playing here.

“He’s looking forward to the game at the weekend and I don’t think it would matter who he was playing against – he would still be looking forward to the game at the weekend.”

Clarke added: “I haven’t read the comments because I tend not to read the media.

“I’m not really sure what the context was but sometimes when a player leaves a club the manager will choose to make some critical comments.

“But that’s for every individual to decide how they want to deal with it.

“I’ve only known Stephane for ten days and I’ve not had too many chats with him.

“He’s quiet but when I was young I was quiet as well – it doesn’t make you introverted or a difficult character.

“Some people are quiet, some are loud, everybody has their own character.

“On the pitch Stephane is quick, direct, lively, he likes to take people on.

“He’s a dribbler, an entertainer and hopefully he’s gets many chances here to entertain the crowd.”