West Brom: Roberto Di Matteo eager to protect Jerome Thomas

Nov 28 2009 by Christopher Lepkowski, Birmingham Mail

JEROME Thomas might be one of Albion’s form players but Roberto Di Matteo is keen to protect him.

The ex-Arsenal winger, scorer of four goals, has made a big impact since his free transfer from Portsmouth during the summer.

But memories of a painful injury remain for Thomas.

The 26-year-old was forced to miss most of last season when he suffered fractures to his back.

Di Matteo, who was forced to quit football due to a badly broken leg in 2001, knows what Thomas is going through.

And he reckons that any player going through such setbacks will be more appreciative of his career.

“We knew we had to manage him carefully and that’s what we’ve tried to do,” said Di Matteo.

“We’ve been working with him very hard, he does a lot of gym work so we had to strengthen certain areas of his body and core work.

“So far it’s been great. Injury prevention and core work is something we work on with our medical staff and physio.”

Thomas turned down Hull and Wolves to join Albion in the summer.

Di Matteo admits they were lucky to secure his signature.

“I’m glad we signed him. He’s a good, quick player who has a lot of experience,” he said.

“We are sharing the workload of goals so they are coming from everywhere but we’re not surprised with his ability – so he should be scoring goals. He’s got the ability to.”