Bruno Labbadia has emerged as the front-runner for the West Brom job after holding two rounds of talks with technical director Luke Dowling, according to the Express & Star.
The newspaper claims that Dowling met the former Wolfsburg manager on Monday before holding even more discussions about the head coach vacancy at The Hawthorns.
Labaddia, 53, is available after leaving Wolfsburg at the end of the season but has also held roles at Bayer Leverkusen. Hamburg and Stuttgart in his 16-year-long managerial career.
OPINION
West Brom do appear to be getting closer to appointing their next manager, albeit at a snail’s pace. It has been over two weeks since the Baggies were beaten in the play-offs and fans are starting to get worried by the slow process that is taking place. Although Dowling and Mark Jenkins need to get this appointment spot on, it is becoming quite the drawn-out process and is taking up valuable time in what is bound to be a massive summer transfer window. West Brom’s wage budget will more than likely need trimming down while players leaving on free transfers and loans expiring have caused all sorts of voids in different areas of the squad. Furthermore, players like Craig Dawson, Jay Rodriguez, Kieran Gibbs and Ahmed Hegazi are all bound to be linked with leaving, creating even more issues to be resolved in the transfer market. West Brom need to hire someone by the start of next week ideally.