‘a decent Premier League football player... an exceptional one, on his day, if the stars are aligned & he doesn’t have time to contemplate the consequences of failure before striking the ball’

‘Is it fair to write off his Albion career as a failure? £17m is a fuck tonne of money. But in the overall scheme of things - and bearing in mind that Premier League football involves throwing insane amounts of money at players and agents in the hope of achieving some minor incremental gains - I think Alireza can point to evidence of contribution. Something positive, in return for the money invested in him’