Exclusive: West Brom attacker contract talks on the ‘Back burner’ amid uncertainty – pundit
We’re delighted to welcome former West Brom striker Kevin Phillips as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at The Hawthorns…
Kevin Phillips believes Kyle Edwards’ contract talks have been put “on the backburner” amid uncertainty surrounding Slaven Bilic’s and Guochuan Lai’s futures at West Brom.
Earlier this week, The Athletic journalist Steve Madeley reported that contract talks with the 23-year-old are ongoing but have slowed down.
Edwards’ existing terms expire at the end of the season so when the January transfer window opens, clubs from outside of England can approach the Baggies academy product on a pre-contract basis.
In just over a month, the transfer window will reopen but Phillips believes that talks have stalled between West Brom and Edwards because there’s so much uncertainty at The Hawthorns at the moment with speculation surrounding Bilic’s future [Mirror] and a potential takeover [John Percy].
“It’s a tough one because who knows who’ll be in charge of the club if results don’t turn around? New owners could come in – things could change very quickly,” Phillips told West Brom News.
“In terms of giving new deals out to players at the moment, they might be on the back burner a little bit until everything is finalised.
“Edwards has not played a lot of football so I would imagine the contract situation will be put on hold for now.”
Edwards has not featured too much for the Baggies this season with the Dudley-born attacker starting just one Premier League match.
He also started both of Albion’s Carabao Cup games, assisting goals in each and winning Sky Sports’ man of the match for his performance against Harrogate in the second round.
Bilic is using Edwards so as long as Bilic is at the club, you’d imagine the 23-year-old would have a future in the West Midlands.
However, as Phillips pointed out, Bilic’s future is anything but safe at the moment with West Brom yet to win a Premier League fixture this season.
In other West Brom news, the statue of Tony Brown has been removed from The Hawthorns in mysterious circumstances.
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