Sky Sports: West Brom striker ruled out of clash v Leicester with injury
West Brom striker Kenneth Zohore has been ruled out of the Baggies’ Premier League opener against Leicester on Sunday, according to Sky Sports.
Zohore, 26, started just five Championship matches last season as Albion won promotion to the top-flight and even if he was fit, he was unlikely to play any role against the Foxes at The Hawthorns this weekend because of a calf injury.
But Slaven Bilic’s hand has been forced due to his injury – which could also have an impact on West Brom’s efforts to move on the former Cardiff striker.
Last month, the Telegraph reported that Zohore was one of a number of players who West Brom wanted to sell in the current transfer window in order to trim down the size of the squad and raise funds for new arrivals.
Since then, Sheffield Wednesday and Middlesbrough have emerged as contenders to sign Zohore and YorkshireLive has reported that the Owls are in talks over a season-long loan for the Dane.
We doubt that Zohore’s injury issue is bad enough for the brakes to be pulled on a loan switch to Hillsborough but we do hope that he’s moved on before the transfer window closes because he’s not good enough for a top Championship club – let alone a club in the Premier League.
Sky Sports adds that left-back Conor Townsend is a doubt to play against Leicester.
It is understood that the former Scunthorpe full-back has been in training this week and could play a role against Leicester but he has had a recent injury setback that could also ruled him out of the action on Sunday.
As with Zohore, we don’t think that Townsend would have started against the Foxes because Kieran Gibbs is fit.
Gibbs missed a lot of last season with hamstring injuries but was fit enough to play in the pre-season draw with Brighton last week.
This update from Sky Sports does not change our predicted starting line-up for the season opener versus Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester.
In other West Brom news, Aston Villa have beaten the Baggies to signing this player.
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