Report: PL club believe West Brom player requires immediate surgery
Crystal Palace believe that West Brom defender Nathan Ferguson requires surgery on his knee after he failed a medical to join the Premier League club in January, according to The Athletic.
The news outlet claims that if Palace had managed to sign Ferguson, 19, from the Baggies then they would have sent him for an operation straight away.
West Brom reportedly agreed a deal with the Eagles that could have been worth up to £11million for the young defender, whose contract at The Hawthorns is still due to expire at the end of the season.
It was a good deal for the Baggies, who could still lose Ferguson for peanuts in the summer if a club from outside of England was to sign him on a pre-contract agreement.
However after a scan with Crystal Palace earlier this week, it was revealed that the youngster had an issue with his knee that the Londoners believe requires surgery that could rule him out for the rest of the season.
West Brom have a tough decision to make now.
Do they let Ferguson’s contract run down so he leaves for nothing but a compensation fee in the summer so his knee issue is someone else’s problem? Do they sign him up on a new contract, then send him for a season-ending procedure? Do they make him undergo surgery, risking that he might leave in the summer anyway? Or, do they not send him for surgery and try to play him for the rest of the season?
In this case, the health of the player has to be the priority and his contract situation needs to be shelved for a moment.
Clubs might not want to sign Ferguson is he has a knee issue that has been flagged up on a medical and the defender should know that himself.
His best option right now would be to accept what the Baggies are offering him and accept that his season has to end so that he can undergo surgery.
In other West Brom news, Graeme Jones has reacted to Luton’s loss at The Hawthorns.