West Brom urgently need to sign a striker in January says Valerien Ismael
West Brom manager Valerien Ismael has once again highlighted the club’s need to sign a striker in the January transfer window.
Albion played out a disappointing 0-0 draw against Championship strugglers Barnsley at Oakwell on Friday night (17 December).
The Baggies had 16 shots throughout the 90 minutes, but just three of those were on target, with some of their best chances being Jordan Hugill missing a sitter and Cedric Kipre hitting the post.
Ismael was asked after the game whether it confirmed his desire to bring in more firepower next month.
“I didn’t have to wait for the game tonight,” the Albion boss said.
“It’s been many weeks now that our target is clear in the front position. It is a reality that you need to score goals to win games.
“You need the player who is able to score goals. We have KG (Karlan Grant), we have Robbo (Callum Robinson), but we need more support, more impact to make sure we can win games.
“We have to do something on one of the front three positions.
“We’re trying everything. It’s clear that it’s better if you can get a player in as quickly as possible and not wait until the last minute because we have so many games. We need to do something quickly.”
Obvious
It has been clear to supporters for some time that we are in desperate need of a striker in January and it seems as if it has been clear to Ismael too.
We have the best defence in the Championship, but our chances of promotion are being impeded by our inability to put the ball in the back of the net.
Albion rank second in the division for shots per game (16), but are only the sixth highest scorers [WhoScored].
It is noticeable that Ismael leaves out Jordan Hugill when mentioning the team’s current frontline options, hinting that the flop’s loan spell from Norwich City could be ended early.
The 29-year-old was supposed to be the talismanic number nine that the team needed, but he has scored just once in 19 matches.
The Baggies have been linked with an array of strikers, from Dwight Gayle to Daryl Dike, so hopefully a deal gets done early in the transfer window and the new addition hits the ground running.
In other West Brom news, Lee Hendrie slammed one Albion player for what he did against Barnsley last night.
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