Sam Allardyce admits ‘Difficult’ West Brom transfer task when discussing January window
Sam Allardyce has suggested there could be incomings at West Brom during the January transfer window.
Speaking to talkSPORT, in what was his first interview since being named as the new head coach at the Hawthorns, Allardyce confirmed that the Albion board are eager to strengthen the current squad: “That was one of my first questions – I might need help in January if we can [do business].
“And that’s if we can find a better player than what we’ve already got and only if it’s a better player would I want to bring him in. That’s a difficult task because of COVID-19, the understanding of the club and where they are at the moment.
“[The board] are prepared to get some players and we need to find who those players are. Who wants to let a player go in this pandemic? That is a particular problem.”
Slaven Bilic was previously working on a very limited budget over the summer, so it remains to be seen what sort of money Allardyce could have made available to him.
West Brom spent roughly £35million over the summer, the bulk of which went on Karlan Grant, who arrived from Huddersfield Town.
Business to be done
There is certainly room for improvement in the current West Brom squad, but it is likely to come down to a matter of money for Allardyce in January.
Among the many things on his West Brom to-do list is to find a regular source of goals. The aforementioned Grant has not found his shooting boots in the Premier League and only Burnley and Sheffield United have scored fewer goals than the Baggies this season.
Conor Gallagher and Callum Robinson are the club’s current joint-highest goalscorers as things stand, on two apiece. The latter, despite Grant’s form, has been limited to just seven starts.
Getting Grant back to his best could be an easy way to save the Baggies millions in the new year.
One of Bilic’s biggest downfalls this season was his inability to get the striker scoring, despite trying different formations and strike partnerships.
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