West Brom ready £6.3m bid to sign Croatia international - report
West Brom are stepping up their plans for life back in the Premier League and are ready to bid up to £6.3million to sign Besiktas centre-back Domagoj Vida, according to Fanatik.
The Turkish news outlet claims that Slaven Bilic has drawn up a list of players who he wants to sign this summer and Vida, 31, is one of them.
Bilic handed Vida his international debut for Croatia in 2010 and it is understood that Besiktas are willing to get the defender off their wage bill before next summer.
Fanatik reports that Vida's £57,000-a-week wages are a "great burden" on Besiktas' finances and president Ahmet Nur Çebi is open to a sale.
Vida, who played in the 2018 World Cup final for Croatia as they lost 4-2 to France, made 38 appearances in all competitions for Besiktas this season as they finished third in the Turkish Super Lig. He also scored five league goals in the process.
The former Bayer Leverkusen defender is known to be a bit of a controversial character.
He was filmed saying "glory to Ukraine" after Croatia beat Russia at the 2018 World Cup, causing tension between the two nations while in his time at Dinamo Zagreb he was caught opening a beer on the team coach on the way to a cup match and was hit with a €100,000 fine.
Do West Brom want characters like that?
Sometimes those kinds of characters can lift the dressing room and with a Croatian contingency already in place at The Hawthorns through Bilic, some of his coaching staff and potentially Filip Krovinovic, it could be a good environment for Vida to be in.
But, ultimately it comes down to his abilities on the pitch that will judge whether or not he'd be a good signing for West Brom.
Vida ticks a lot of boxes because he has played in good European leagues like the Bundesliga and his achievements with Croatia are well known. He's also experienced, has leadership abilities and knows the West Brom manager already.
Albion could do with strengthening their centre-back options ahead of next season so let's see where this one heads but anyone who's read our previous reports on what the Turkish media are saying, you'd know that they are usually quite hard to believe.
In other West Brom news, Daryl Burgess has urged the club to sign this 32-year-old striker.