Sky Sports pundit David Prutton has claimed that Harvey Barnes’s return to Leicester City was a big blow to West Bromwich Albion as he insists the club are doing ‘unbelievably’ well to push for a top two finish this season.
The Baggies currently sit fourth in the Championship table, five points behind second place Leeds United, and Prutton feels that Barnes is a big loss to Darren Moore’s side.
“The first thing that jumps out is just the firepower they’ve got and, along with Norwich, I think it’s no surprise you get two high-scoring teams playing in the latter parts of the division,” he wrote on the Sky Sports website. “Darren Moore has been shrewd by bringing loan signings in, though it was a big blow losing Harvey Barnes.
“That win against Stoke last Saturday keeps them very much in the fight for the automatic places. If you compare them to how the other two recently-relegated sides have done – I think Stoke spent in excess of £60m on a whole host of players – they are doing unbelievably well.”
OPINION
Certainly West Brom have done far better than the other two teams relegated from the Premier League last season, Stoke City and Swansea City. They are actually in contention to return to the top flight, which cannot be said for the other two sides – although you could conceivably make a case for Swansea. However, the Baggies are the class of the relegated teams and they’re going to be very hard to stop should they enter the play offs. They have so much attacking talent, even if the loss of Barnes was a devastating one. The Englishman had impressed hugely at the Hawthorns and any team in the Championship would miss someone of his immense quality. If West Brom can go on and secure promotion without his services then that will be a big achievement. It’s going to be difficult, there are some very good teams up at the top, but they certainly have the quality and the experience to get the job done.