West Brom close in on deal to sign £4m-rated striker permanently – report
West Brom are closing in on a deal to sign Senegal striker Mbaye Diagne on a permanent basis from Galatasaray, according to Takvim.
The Turkish news outlet claims that initial talks between Albion and the Istanbul club were over a loan-to-buy deal but they have quickly transformed into discussions about a straight permanent transfer.
It is understood that Diagne, 29, is valued at £4million by Galatasaray, meaning he could be quite an affordable signing for the struggling Baggies.
D is for dangerous?
Diagne has been in red-hot form at Galatasaray in recent weeks with the former Juventus striker scoring nine goals coming in his last eight league outings for the Turkish giants.
He’s notched 11 goals in 19 appearances in total this term but none of them have really come against Turkey’s big teams like Besiktas, Basaksehir or Fenerbahce.
Sam Allardyce needs to bring in a new danger-man upfront to make West Brom’s attack more profitable because at the moment, Albion’s weak offensive force is one of the reasons why they’re in trouble in the Premier League.
Matheus Pereira is West Brom’s top goalscorer in the Premier League this season with four goals to his name. Centre-back Semi Ajayi, midfielder Conor Gallagher and forward Callum Robinson are next with four goals.
Hal Robson-Kanu hasn’t scored in the league and Charlie Austin didn’t either before he moved to QPR on loan while Karlan Grant has netted just once since his big move from Huddersfield in the summer.
Albion’s strikers are struggling.
Diagne has been in good form in Turkey. But the issue is right there in that sentence for everyone to see – ‘in Turkey’.
We don’t want to sit here and bash other leagues but Diagne is scoring against some pretty poor teams in the Turkish Super Lig. He will have a baptism of fire in the Premier League and would need to hit the ground running so we have major reservations about whether Diagne can perform in England.
If we do sign him, then we’ll happily eat our words if he can fire the Baggies to survival but it just doesn’t feel like that would happen.
In other West Brom news, Albion are in the hunt to sign this £50,000-a-week Premier League centre-mid.
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