View: West Brom failings in window becoming clearer by players left in cold
West Brom did not have an ideal transfer window after securing promotion back to the Premier League and the results of those struggles are becoming evident.
Players that were part of Slaven Bilic’s plans were able to leave, while others that are yet to appear this season were not shifted off the books.
The process began back in June when Bilic was angered by the Baggies inability to retain academy prospect, Nathan Ferguson, before concluding recently when Ahmed Hegazi was sold without his permission.
Despite not appearing in the league so far this season, Charlie Austin remained at the club and they spent money to acquire Cedric Kipre.
Kipre, who is approaching his 24th birthday, has made just two League Cup appearances and speculation is now growing that he could leave on loan in January (Birmingham Mail).
Aside from bringing back loanees either on permanent deals or for another temporary spell, only Karlan Grant, Branislav Ivanovic, Conor Gallagher and David Button arrived at the club. Grant is a talented player but has struggled, while Ivanovic is 35 years old.
The Athletic’s Steve Madeley recently confirmed that there would be little money to spend in January and that makes the waste of resources all the more frustrating.
Young players like Rekeem Harper, Kyle Edwards and Sam Field have struggled for game time, whether that be the result of injury or falling out of favour, and it looks clear that Bilic is not happy with the options available to him.
However, without money to spend or a batch of young stars emerging, it is hard to see where the improvement will come from.
Looking forward, there remains plenty of untapped potential within this squad and we have not yet seen the best of Pereira, Diangana or Grant. You cannot escape the feeling though that they mismanaged the transfer window, failing to move the players they did not want and instead seeing those they did want leave.
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