West Brom want to sign Liam Delap on loan from Manchester City
Valerien Ismael wants to sign a new centre-forward to add to his West Brom squad before the summer transfer window closes, according to the Express & Star.
Earlier this week, talkSPORT broadcaster Tom Ross shared that Ismael was happy with his squad and no new signings were expected at The Hawthorns.
However, the E&S now reports that Albion are interested in Manchester City striker Liam Delap and would be keen on signing the 18-year-old if he’s made available on loan.
Is he good enough?
It’s very difficult to judge whether Delap is good enough to start for West Brom in the Championship, especially as he’s so young.
He turned 18-years-old back in February but absolutely lit up Premier League 2 for Man City’s Under-23s last season, scoring an incredible 24 goals in 20 matches.
Delap’s form for the Under-23s led to him getting his senior debut for Pep Guardiola’s side and he ended the season with three appearances for Man City’s first-team. He grabbed a goal on his debut too, which came against Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup.
Delap is very talented. Ex-West Brom star Enzo Maresca, who coached Delap last season before leaving Man City has spoken highly of him.
As quoted by the Manchester Evening News in March, Maresca said: “We all know how good he is in this moment but he is the first one that he knows very well that he has many things to improve, he has to work a lot and he is very lucky because he is almost every day with the first team so he can see the first team players working the right way and learn from them a lot.
“We are not surprised about his goals because we all know how good he is. Like every player, he has many things to improve. One of the things that I always say to Liam is he is running more than what we are used to. He can run less or at least try to run better because he runs a lot all the time. We are trying to work with him on that.
“Many times it is important to understand that if you are still, that doesn’t mean that you are not working well. When you are still, you are probably working better than the players that are running a lot without any ideas. This is the concept that we are trying to work on with Liam.”
Maresca wanted to see further improvement from Delap and while the Express & Star reports Man City are yet to make a decision on loaning the England youth international out, there’s no denying that a temporary switch will do him the world of good.
If he does head to The Hawthorns, it remains to be seen whether the deal will do the world of good for the Albion.
In other West Brom news, Peter Odemwingie has sent a message to Pereira amid the latest controversy at The Hawthorns.
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