Contact made: West Brom ramp up pursuit of £17.9m-rated international – reliable journalist
West Brom have pressed on in their pursuit of Fenerbahce centre-forward Vedat Muriqi, according to Haberturk’s Fenerbahce journalist Serdar Ali Celikler.
Speaking on VOLE’s Youtube channel, as translated by Sport Witness, Celikler claims that the Baggies are “seriously interested” in 26-year-old Muriqi and have made contact with Fenerbahce ahead of a potential swoop in the next transfer window.
However, Albion are not the only team eyeing up the Kosovo international with Lazio and two Premier League clubs also interested.
West Brom would more than likely have to win promotion to have a realistic chance of singing Muriqi with Celikler adding that Fenerbahce want at least £17.9million for the 6ft 4 striker.
It is no surprise it would take a club-record fee for Albion to land Muriqi with the Kosovan scoring 15 goals and supplying six assists in 28 appearances across all competitions this season.
He has also been on fire for the Kosovo national team by scoring in each of his last four appearances.
One of those appearances came against England in October as Muriqi scored a penalty and supplied two assists.
If West Brom win promotion then they are going to need to strengthen their striker options because Charlie Austin and Hal Robson-Kanu are both the wrong side of 30 and have hardly been prolific in the Championship despite some important performances.
Kenneth Zohore has so far proven to be an £8million flop so Muriqi might be someone for fans to keep an eye on once the transfer window opens.
In other West Brom news, Kevin Phillips would rather see Albion’s season voided rather than then win promotion via points-per-game.