After the defeat to their perennial bogey team Stoke on Saturday, Steve Clarke revealed that he will soon be sitting down with chairman Jeremy Peace and Sporting and Technical Director Dan Ashworth to discuss potential business in the upcoming transfer window.
Albion currently sit fifth in the Premier League table, only the Manchester duo alongside Chelsea and Tottenham have bettered their start to the season and Clarke will undoubtedly want this campaign to bear fruit after turning the Baggies into the surprise package of the campaign.
Investment may be required, however, due to the possibility of certain players leaving in January. Congolese Youssouf Mulumbu and Nigerian Peter Odemwingie will be participating in the African Cup of Nations, while there is a hanging question mark over loanee Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian could be recalled by parent club Chelsea, as misfiring Fernando Torres continues to struggle in front of goal.
This window will be Ashworth’s final opportunity to excel for Albion, before he takes up his role within the new FA setup in the summer. The former Norwich defender and his scouting network have a reputation for the ability to unearth talent for negligible amounts of money, the aforementioned Mulumbu and Claudio Yacob being prime examples- this plus his relationship with current England manager Roy Hodgson making him the successful candidate for the job he is to occupy.
If Odemwingie and Lukaku are to depart, this would almost halve Albion’s strike-force; Marc-Antoine Fortune, Shane Long and Markus Rosenberg the attackers remaining. Long himself has been linked with a move away recently, goal-hungry Liverpool supposedly interested in the Irish forward following his exceptional performances this year- although Clarke was quick to quash these rumours, insisting no-one would be permanently exiting in the winter window.
Then there is Chris Wood. Regarding the Baggies attacking options, similarly to Chelsea in fact, they may just have a goalscorer right under their nose whose is out on loan (Lukaku being the obvious referee). The New Zealand international, currently on loan at Millwall, has been scoring regularly and is thought to be interested in a permanent move to the New Den. Time will tell, a lot depends on Chelsea, Africa and Millwall. Though not necessarily in that order.
Introducing the neat little app that’ll pay you to view content tailored to your interests:
ThisisFutbol.com are seeking new writers to join the team! If you’re passionate about football, drop us a line at “thisisfutbol.com@snack-media.com” to learn more.