West Brom want to sign another French centre-back, made available by Italian club – report
West Brom want to continue reinforcing their defence ahead of the upcoming Premier League season with Salernitana centre-back Jean-Claude Billong emerging on the Baggies’ radar, according to TeamTalk.
The football news outlet reports that Crystal Palace, West Ham, Norwich and Watford have all joined Albion in expressing an interest in the 26-year-old as Serie B club Salernitana aim to get him off their wage bill.
However, any deal for Billong will be complicated as TeamTalk reports that the French defender is one year into a two-year loan at Salernitana from Serie A club Benevento so an agreement would have to be reached with both clubs before anything can happen.
Billong is one of the highest-earning players at Salernitana but the Italian second-tier club want to get rid of the former Maribor and New York Red Bulls man after a less-than-productive debut season with them.
He made just 11 Serie B appearances last season with Salernitana winning only 27 per cent of those matches.
Without Billong, Salernitana won 40 per cent of their league fixtures.
TeamTalk says that the 6ft 4 centre-back has been likened to former Blackburn star Chris Samba. But other than his bulky frame, we cannot see any suggestions he’d be as good as the ex-Congo international.
As much as we would like to see West Brom sign more new players, we don’t see how Billong would be any better than new arrival Cedric Kipre, who completed his move from Wigan to The Hawthorns on Friday.
Kipre, 23, is also French and also a powerful centre-back.
We don’t see why West Brom would pursue Billong when they now have Kipre and we also don’t see why Slaven Bilic and Luke Dowling would want a 26-year-old who’s never played in a top European league and seriously struggled in Italy’s Serie B last season.
All that is to consider before throwing in the fact that Billong is reportedly halfway through a loan spell at his current club.
A deal for Billong would be complicated, unnecessary and a waste of time, money and effort.
TeamTalk linked the Baggies with Steven Fletcher back in June so it’s not the first time a strange transfer rumour has surfaced from that website.
In other West Brom news, Albion have held talks about potentially signing this free agent.
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