View: West Brom could reignite Kean Bryan pursuit after potential Dara O’Shea blow
West Brom could be forced back into the market for a new central defender if the injury sustained by Dara O’Shea on Wednesday proves to be serious.
The Republic of Ireland international started his country’s World Cup qualifier fixture against Portugal in Faro and helped to repel the early onslaught from Cristiano Ronaldo and co.
However, disaster struck for the 22-year-old in the 35th minute as he was forced from the field after suffering a nasty-looking injury to his ankle.
Goal journalist Ronan Murphy wrote via his personal Twitter profile on Thursday morning that O’Shea injury would be checked later in the day and the severity of the issue will be better known then.
It’s early days but West Brom fans have already shared their fears over the potential repercussions for Valerien Ismael’s side.
As such, if supporters worst fears are confirmed and O’Shea is ruled out for an extended period, Ismael may be forced to find a replacement in the free-agent market.
Under section 43.2.1 of the EFL rules and regulations handbook, clubs are permitted to register players outside of the traditional transfer window where they are an ‘Out of Registration Player’.
Therefore, a move for free agent Kean Bryan could make sense.
The 24-year-old left Sheffield United in the summer after three years in Yorkshire and it was reported by Alan Nixon that Ismael wanted to sign him for West Brom.
Naturally a midfielder, Kean has been used almost exclusively at centre-back in recent years, particularly as part of a back-three for the Blades.
He could fill O’Shea’s void on the right-hand side of defence, providing backup or competition for Semi Ajayi.
Now, Ismael may look to solve the issue within his own squad.
He already has Kyle Bartley, Matt Clarke, Ajayi and Cedric Kipre as first-team options in central defence, while youngsters Saul Shotton and Caleb Taylor were handed Albion debuts in last week’s 6-0 League Cup defeat to Arsenal.
However, Clarke has already suffered from injuries since moving to The Hawthorns while there are doubts over Kipre’s abilities after a sub-par performance on the opening weekend draw with Bournemouth.
Shotton [20] and Taylor [19] are inexperienced options and could represent a big risk.
Therefore, it could be a shrewd move to sign Bryan as short-term cover if O’Shea injury is serious.
In other West Brom news, a Sky Sports pundit has slammed this Albion ace after an incident this week.
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