Danny Wright

Thu 16 April 2020 13:46, UK

West Brom manager Slaven Bilic is interested in signing Lazio midfielder Milan Badelj if the Baggies win promotion to the Premier League, according to Sata24.

Badelj, 31, is currently on loan at Lazio’s Serie A rivals Fiorentina, who have the option to sign him in the summer for £3.4million [Gianluca Di Marzio].

However that hasn’t stopped the Baggies from eyeing up the deep-lying playmaker, who was handed his international debut for Croatia by Bilic in 2010.

Croatian news outlet Sata24 reports that Bilic is already planning for next season and Badelj has emerged on his radar to add more creativity to the squad, while a permanent deal for loanee Filip Krovinovic is also on the cards.

Krovinovic had a slow start to life at West Brom when he joined on loan from Benfica in the summer but has impressed a lot since the turn of the year and it seems wise to push on with a permanent deal once the transfer window re-opens.

Badelj is another Croatian midfielder who Bilic likes but he tends to operate in a much deeper-lying position than Krovinovic.

Badelj has made 19 Serie A appearances for Fiorentina this season and, according to stats by WyScout, he has completed 82.9 per cent of his passes with 72.9 per cent of his passes into the final-third being successful.

Romaine Sawyers is probably the closest thing West Brom have to a player like Badelj yet he’s completed 86.4 per cent of his passes in the Championship this season with 78.9 per cent of his attack-minded passes being accurate.

Although Sawyers’ numbers come in the Championship whereas Badelj’s come in Serie A, the West Brom midfielder has shown this season he is a very adept passer of the ball.

Is Badelj needed? If Bilic believes so then Albion fans should be happy to see the Croatian midfielder arrive but as he’ll turn 32-years-old next season, it doesn’t seem realistic based on the surge of new youthful players at The Hawthorns since the ex-Croatia boss was hired.

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