West Brom on verge of signing new player from PL club – report
West Brom are on the verge of signing Shane Duffy from Brighton after beating Celtic to a deal, according to the Daily Record.
The Scottish newspaper reports that Celtic were trying to sign the 28-year-old centre-back on loan from Brighton but West Brom are closing in on a permanent deal.
The Scottish Daily Mail had reported that Duffy’s preference was to join the Bhoys as they are his boyhood club but the south coast side were only interested in selling the Republic of Ireland captain permanently.
Duffy would become West Brom’s first new signing of the summer if they were to complete a deal for him now.
While Matheus Pereira is widely expected to seal his permanent switch to The Hawthorns soon, adding new faces to the squad rather than re-signing loanees is something that Slaven Bilic and Luke Dowling must crack on with.
Kevin Phillips has recently told West Brom News in an exclusive interview that Albion must strengthen the spine of their team after winning promotion from the Championship and adding Duffy to the defence “could be a decent signing”.
Duffy’s leadership, command of the box and physical presence would be a great match for someone like Semi Ajayi, who’s more athletic and is very calm and composed with the ball at his feet.
It would mean that Kyle Bartley and Ahmed Hegazi drop down the pecking order but one of those centre-backs was signed for the Championship while the other played a role in West Brom dropping out of the Premier League.
It will be interesting to see what happens with one – or both – of those two before the start of next season.
In other West Brom news, Atletico Madrid are set to sign one of Bilic’s targets.
Be sure to follow West Brom News on Facebook and Twitter for 24/7 updates on the Baggies and more exclusive interviews with Kevin Phillips.