Talks underway: West Brom want international striker with 48 PL career goals – report
West Brom have held talks with Bournemouth to sound out a potential move for Norway striker Joshua King, according to the Express & Star.
Earlier this week, The Mirror reported that Tottenham and Manchester United have cooled their interest in the 28-year-old with the Baggies set to do battle with Aston Villa in the race to sign him.
It is now understood that West Brom are looking into a deal to land the former Blackburn and Man United forward with Bournemouth willing to sell him for a cut-price £10million.
King is in the final year of his contract at the Vitality Stadium and is yet to start a Championship match for the south coast club since their relegation from the Premier League.
While the Express & Star reports that the Baggies don’t have £10million left in their transfer budget to fund a move for King, it is said that Bournemouth are ready to agree a structured deal based on instalments.
West Brom fans have been frustrated by the lack of money that Slaven Bilic has been able to spend on bolstering his squad since winning promotion to the Premier League.
Chinese owner Guochuan Lai has failed to invest any funds into the club, leaving Bilic with a transfer budget that was widely reported to be just £25million.
Most of that budget has been spent on re-signing players who were on loan at the club last season while the likes of Cedric Kipre, David Button and Branislav Ivanovic have also been brought in either on cheap deals or for free.
But £10million for a proven Premier League striker like King seems like a bargain.
At 28-years-of-age, he’s at what should be the peak of his career and having a stat of 48 goals in 161 Premier League appearances on his CV also makes for good reading.
Albion really have to try and get this deal done.
King could be a game-changer.
In other West Brom news, this is why Conor Gallagher was missing for Albion’s defeat to Southampton.
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