View: West Brom should scrap reported swoop for C’Ship ace, better option at Hawthorns
With no specific dates set for the summer transfer window, West Brom and other clubs will be starting to put together their shortlists.
It was revealed by TEAMtalk on Sunday that the Baggies were ready to swoop for Sheffield Wednesday duo Steven Fletcher and Morgan Fox.
The duo are both out of contract at Hillsborough in the summer and have attracted interested from a number of Premier League clubs as well as West Brom.
Burnley, Norwich, Bournemouth, West Brom, Middlesbrough and Rangers are all said to be interested in Fox, with the defender impressing this season under Garry Monk.
Does the left-back justify all of this interest after just one impressive campaign though? Probably not. West Brom would certainly be smart to avoid a move for the 26-year-old.
There would be serious question marks over whether or not Fox would be able to make the jump into the Premier League if promotion is secured once football returns.
Slaven Bilic will get the chance to evaluate his squad as they prepare for the Championship restart, and he will surely see that he has better options at the club already.
Take Conor Townsend for example, the left-back didn’t have the best of starts in the Midlands, but he has certainly hit the ground running since cementing his spot.
Comparing the 27-year-old to Fox via WhoScored, the apparent interest starts to make less sense. Townsend makes more tackles in each game and also commits fewer fouls.
Fox does complete more interceptions, blocks and clearances – but Wednesday spend much-more time defending their own goal compare to the Baggies.
Townsend doesn’t blow Fox out of the water, but they are way too similar to justify a move to bring the Owls defender to the club whilst the former Scunthorpe man is still flying high.
In other West Brom news, Athletic journalist reveals worst-case scenario discussed by WBA with restart on horizon