Aston Villa & West Brom in hunt to sign 28y/o striker with 48 PL goals – report
Aston Villa and Newcastle United have joined West Brom in the hunt to sign Bournemouth striker Joshua King, according to the PA news agency.
King, 28, has struggled to feature for Bournemouth in the Championship this season and is out of contract in the summer.
PA news agency now reports, via the Mirror’s live transfer blog [Thursday, 09:29am] that West Brom, Villa and Newcastle are interested in the Norway international.
It is understood that with Swansea and Bournemouth eyeing a loan swoop for Aston Villa’s Keinan Davis, Dean Smith has identified King as a potential replacement.
West Brom, on the other hand, are reportedly ready to make an offer to King with Karlan Grant sidelined for several weeks with a fractured foot [Daily Mail].
King a major upgrade for the Baggies
West Brom have struggled all over the pitch this season.
Slaven Bilic and Sam Allardyce have seen the defence concede a glut of goals, the midfield offers no protection to the back-line nor creates opportunities for attackers and the forward players haven’t been exactly prolific.
If you want to avoid relegation from the Premier League then the best way to do so is by scoring goals.
It sounds stupid to say that, but West Brom are likely to concede no matter who they play against this season so why not take advantage of what has been a goal-crazy Premier League campaign and go for the jugular by signing a new striker?
King is a proven goalscorer in the Premier League with 48 strikes to his name in 161 top-flight appearances.
He’s hit double-figures in the Premier League on two occasions for Bournemouth with 16 goals in 2016/17 and 12 goals in 2018/19.
King has what it takes but for him to get the goals, Albion are going to need players like Grady Diangana and Matheus Pereira to step up massively and provide him with chances to score.
In other West Brom news, Albion are in advanced talks to sign this new player.
Be sure to follow West Brom News on Facebook and Twitter for 24/7 updates on the Baggies and more exclusive interviews with Kevin Phillips.