Kevin Phillips warns West Brom of losing half the spine of their team in the summer
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 has warned West Brom they will find it “hard to replace” Sam Johnstone and Kyle Bartley if they move on in the summer transfer window.
Both players will enter the final year of their contracts at The Hawthorns at the end of this season and both have been linked with moves elsewhere.
The Sun has reported that Johnstone’s fine performances in goals for the Baggies has alerted Tottenham to his situation while The Telegraph has claimed Burnley and Newcastle are monitoring Bartley.
Since Sam Allardyce’s arrival at The Hawthorns, Johnstone and Bartley have been two of the most impressive players in their respective goalkeeper and centre-back positions.
Phillips believes the Albion side will suffer a major blow if both move on ahead of next season, which is unlikely to be in the Premier League.
Speaking to West Brom News, Phillips said: “Sam Johnstone or Kyle Bartley, if you lose those two there’s half of the spine of your team gone straight away. It’s hard to replace them,”
“The Baggies will be pushing for promotion if they are in the Championship.”
According to stats by Wyscout, Johnstone has made more saves than any other goalkeeper in Europe’s top five leagues [123].
Bartley is also a stand-out in the stats as the defender ranks fourth in the Premier League for interceptions per 90 minutes [7.12] and 12th for shots blocked [0.94].
The ex-Swansea defender also ranks ninth for defenders when it comes to the percentage of aerial duels won inside their own penalty area [71.43%].
Both players have been defensively sound for West Brom this season but neither really stood out in the Championship.
Is it because they’ve started to thrive under the increased defensive duties? Or have they genuinely developed into Premier League-quality players?
Either way, we want them both to stay next season, even though that seems unlikely.
In other West Brom news, Albion have set their sights on this 24-year-old goalkeeper who made two stunning saves for his country this week.
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