Former Premier League midfielder Carlton Palmer has been discussing the “key” nature of the potential West Brom takeover for their prospects of securing Premier League survival this term.
Just last month, The Telegraph’s John Percy reported that the Baggies have held talks with an American consortium over a potential takeover. This consortium is said to be interested in either taking over the club in its entirety or purchasing a 15% minority stake in West Brom. Takeover negotiations reportedly remain open, with Guochuan Lai said to value the club at £150m, which the prospective buyers deem to be too high of a price tag.
New Baggies boss Sam Allardyce recently admitted that the West Midlands club’s January transfer business is “going to be a very important part” of their Premier League survival bid. This comes after his predecessor, Slaven Bilic, was reportedly frustrated with the budget he was allocated for the summer transfer window.
With that in mind, it may be understandable why, while speaking exclusively to This Is Futbol, ex-Baggies man Palmer has declared that the West Brom takeover going through before the transfer window re-opens next month is “going to be key” for Albion’s transfer business and, as a result, their survival hopes.
He said: “It’s going to be key because, obviously, he hasn’t got money available to him to do anything with the present squad of players he’s got, so it will be key, but then it’s [about] being able to bring in the right players if the sale goes through before January, being able to bring in the right players who are going to deliver.
“It’s alright having the funds, you’ve got to bring in the right players but it’s going to be key for him. I don’t think the present squad of players are good enough to keep them in the Premier League.”
Ahead of their weekend clash with Aston Villa, West Brom sat second from bottom in the Premier League table, having earned just seven points from their opening 13 games.
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With that in mind, it may be understandable why both Allardyce and Palmer seem to think that the current crop of players at The Hawthorns might not have enough quality to avoid the drop, and so their January recruitment may well prove to be the determining factor in their Premier League survival. It will therefore be interesting to see how this takeover story develops between now and the transfer window, with new manager Allardyce presumably assessing his squad and determining where investment is most urgently needed next month.