Luke Dowling confirms how much West Brom paid for Kamil Grosicki
Luke Dowling has confirmed that West Brom paid £800,000 to sign Kamil Grosicki from Hull City in the January transfer window.
Grosicki, 31, made his switch to The Hawthorns official on deadline day and managed to impress on his debut on Sunday when he assisted a goal in the 2-0 win against Millwall.
The Polish attacker guided a brilliant corner into the penalty area, which was headed home by defender Dara O’Shea for his first goal in senior football.
West Brom did well to sign Grosicki for as little as they did, even though he turns 32 in the summer as he is a player with a lot of experience in the Championship and could prove pivotal in Albion’s bid for promotion.
Technical director Dowling has suggested that the deal for the Poland international was a bargain, especially when he was being asked to pay more for loan deals.
“Look at the ones we did this window, Grosicki – £800,000 for 18 months. We looked at other players and we were quoted a £1m loan fee – on top of their salary. That is where this window can be stupid,” said Dowling, as quoted by the Birmingham Mail.
“To get a player like Grosicki with his experience for that kind of money we were pleased with. Slaven doesn’t draw up his own list but he drops names in and tells us to have a look and see what our thoughts are.
“That is how it works, there is a process in place that we go through that gets us to our shortlist for each position.”
Dowling is spot on but it’s likely that West Brom were being quoted big prices for loan players because they were asking for them from clubs in the Premier League.
Hull were struggling in mid-table before Grosicki left to join the Baggies and was in the final months of his contract at the KCOM.
It was likely that he was always going to be available on the cheap in January.
Either way, West Brom have profited from Hull being unable to tie down Grosicki longer than they did with him already having an impact in their attack.
Bilic might not hand the Polish winger too many starts between now and the end of the season but he is a superb option to have if there are any injuries or suspensions, plus he’s already proven he can have an impact from the bench.
In other West Brom news, Peter Odemwingie has thrilled Albion fans with his latest tweet.