Lai let down Sam Allardyce by not signing West Brom target Haris Seferovic
West Brom targeted Benfica’s Haris Seferovic in January and the club will be regretting the decision not to sign him.
The striker is in good form in Portugal with two goals in two games and could have made an immediate impact at The Hawthorns.
Limited finances meant Sam Allardyce had to pick and choose which targets he signed, and in the end Mbaye Diagne was the only striker brought in.
The loanee has looked bright in his first few appearances.
He grabbed his first goal for the club against Manchester United but perhaps should have scored twice more.
Seferovic’s most recent goal against Moreirense shows he can find a way past the goalkeeper from difficult angles.
We should not have to compare the two forwards, however.
Given our perilous position in the table, Lai Guochuan should have provided Allardyce with all the funds he needed to strengthen.
Hunting for bargains was unfair on the new boss and it is no real shock that we have failed to win in more than a month.
Instead, Lai should have fulfilled Sam’s wish to sign Seferovic as well as Diagne.
The 28-year-old showed a lot of good qualities in his last match against Moreirense.
He completed 100% of the two dribbles he attempted and was a menace for the opposition with five touches in the penalty box, per WyScout.
A return of 57% offensive duels also shows he was a tricky opponent for defenders to deal with.
Diagne unsettles defenders in a similar manner.
The way he beat Victor Lindelof to score a header on a Sunday shows that, and together they could have really improved our attack.
Big Sam likes to play with a single striker which means one of Seferovic or Diagne would probably have had to play as an impact sub if they signed.
That would have given Allardyce to ability to turn a game in our favour though – the likes of Callum Robinson and Karlan Grant do not cut it by comparison.
As such, we feel this was a missed opportunity and another sign of Lai letting us down.
In other West Brom news, ‘We have to help him’ – Big Sam praises ‘brilliant’ West Brom star who tops key ranking.