According to reports from The Telegraph this morning, West Bromwich Albion have entered the race to sign Liverpool and Manchester City target Demarai Gray in January.
The 19 year-old winger is regarded as one of the most exciting prospects in the Championship and indeed throughout English football, having bagged seven goals in 55 league appearances for Birmingham City and picked up twelve caps for England across the youth levels, ranging from U18 to U20.
Scouts from Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City and even Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich allegedly watched him action for the Junior Lions earlier this month during a 1-0 win over the Czech Republic.
According to The Telegraph, however, West Brom have now entered the race to sign Gray in January, when a clause in the three-year contract he signed during the summer could see him leave St. Andrews for just £3.5million.
Manager Tony Pulis has recently revealed the need for four or five more signings at the Hawthorns, stating; “The squad is small but we have brought some good players in. It’s not as strong as we wanted to and we certainly haven’t strengthened in certain areas where we were desperate to strengthen in. We hope we can bring four or five others in to add to the lads that we’ve got.”
It’s believed additions to the flanks will take priority when the transfer window reopens after the Baggies missed out on QPR’s Matty Phillips and Nottingham Forest’s Michail Antonio during the summer. The latter went on to join West Ham instead.
The Telegraph claim Liverpool already have a first refusal option in place, meaning they can match any bid for Gray before he’s allowed to discuss personal terms with other clubs.
But according to the Birmingham Mail, the prodigious attacker has recently informed manager Gary Rowett that he sees first-team football as vital to his development, which could give West Brom a vital advantage over the Anfield outfit.