Phillips Exclusive: West Brom have ‘Irons in the fire’ as January transfer plans accelerate
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 West Brom’s rotten run of form will accelerate their plans for the January transfer window now that Sam Allardyce can add to his recently-inherited squad.
Albion struggled to do business in the last transfer window when Slaven Bilic was handed a dismal budget by the club’s board.
Bilic ended up signing Grady Diangana and Karlan Grant in big, yet structured deals but the feeling was very much one of frustration among supporters and the former Baggies manager.
West Brom have lost their last four home games, conceding 17 goals in the process, sparking huge concerns that the Black Country club will suffer an instant return to the Championship.
When asked if recent results will speed up transfer plans for this month, Phillips told West Brom News: “I would like to think so.
“I was reading what Sam said about it being hard to do business due to the pandemic. He’s right in saying he’s not going to bring players to the club for the sake of it. They’ve got to be players that go straight into that first-team and improve the side.
“With all that, it’s going to be very difficult but I would imagine he’ll have plenty of irons in the fire and conversations going on left, right and centre.
“It will be accelerated even more after recent results because if they keep defending like that, they’re going to get relegated. It’s as simple as that.
“They clearly don’t score enough goals to win matches. They just don’t look like scoring goals so they need to keep clean sheets.”
If you thought the last transfer window was frustrating, this one threatens to be worse for the Baggies due to the new impact that Brexit has had on activity.
Allardyce has already confirmed, via Sky Sports, that three players he’s wanted to sign have been unable to join Albion due to the new work permit system.
West Brom might also struggle to sell players and raise funds for new arrivals due to this so Allardyce and Luke Dowling have their work cut out this month.
However, it would all be made a lot easier if Guochuan Lai actually invested some money into the club.
If you fail to invest in the Premier League then you have to expect a very, very tough time in the top-flight.
In other West Brom news, this ex-Premier League striker wants to join the Baggies.
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