Slaven Bilic makes Filip Krovinovic transfer admission after West Brom lose to Leicester
Slaven Bilic has revealed that he is still doing everything he can to sign Filip Krovinovic from Benfica but admits that the 25-year-old’s return won’t fix all of West Brom’s issues.
According to the latest update by Portuguese newspaper Record, Albion are still haggling over a fee to re-sign Krovinovic on a permanent basis from Benfica.
It is understood that the Lisbon giants want around £9million for the Croatian playmaker, who spent last season on loan at The Hawthorns, while the Baggies are only offering a loan-to-buy deal worth around £5.5million.
West Brom suffered disappointment in their first match back in the Premier League on Sunday as they lost 3-0 to Leicester, with it becoming apparent that many areas of Bilic’s squad needs upgrading.
And speaking after the defeat on Sunday, Bilic admitted that while he wants to add Krovinoivc to his squad, the midfielder is not the only player that West Brom need to sign.
“We signed [Grady] Diangana, [Callum] Robinson, the third is Filip Krovinović. I insist we do everything to bring him in,” Bilic told Croatian news outlet Sportklub, as quoted by Jutarnji List.
“There is our will and his will, but also the will of Benfica, now that job just needs to be realised.
“But that again may not be enough to step up against teams like Leicester.
“It is not easy to do something even when you have money, but it is evident that we need more players now.”
West Brom did well for the first half an hour or so to keep Leicester quiet but as the match went on, it became obvious that this is a squad of players that is ill-equipped to take on the likes of Leicester.
It was a tough opening game but when we’re playing teams who are expected to finish mid-table or in the bottom half, you’d expect the defence to have an easier job and the attack to create more chances.
Krovinovic can create chances in those matches but we’re kidding ourselves if we think re-signing him will solve all our issues.
West Brom need a new centre-forward before they travel to Everton this weekend.
In other West Brom news, Jermaine Jenas was confused by Bilic’s “strange” decision against Leicester.
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