Having won promotion back to the Premier League the season before as Championship title winners, the Baggies were unable re-establish themselves in the top-flight.
Instead, they would end that 08/09 campaign bottom of the Premier League, suffering an immediate relegation back to the second-tier.
Indeed, they would win just eight league games all season, three of which came in their opening seven games, after which the campaign turned into a long hard slog for West Brom.
That will have been a difficult period for everyone involved at The Hawthorns, and one individual who did not exactly cover himself in glory at that time was Borja Valero.
West Brom move for Borja Valero did not pay off
In the wake of their promotion to the Premier League, the Baggies brought in a number of new players in the summer of 2008.
One of those to join the club was Borja Valero. The midfielder made the move to The Hawthorns on a four-year deal from La Liga side Mallorca.
To complete that deal, West Brom broke their then transfer record by spending a reported £4.7million for the signing of the Spaniard.
It was not an investment that proved fruitful for the Baggies. Valero struggled to settle in England as West Brom slipped towards relegation, failing to score and providing just three assists in 36 appearances in all competitions for the club.
What happened next, is unlikely to help the way he is remembered around The Hawthorns either.
Borja Valero did not stick around in the event of West Brom’s relegation
In the wake of West Brom’s relegation from the Premier League, Valero then admitted in the summer of 2009, that he would prefer to return to Mallorca rather than play in the Championship.
His wish was granted on the final day of that summer’s transfer window, when he completed a move to Mallorca on loan for the 2009/10 campaign.
Although that deal was a temporary one, he would never play for West Brom again.
Valero instead then spent the 2010/11 season on loan at Villarreal, a move that was made permanent in the summer of 2011, for an undisclosed fee.
