West Brom to host Marseille in pre-season friendly, training camp abroad
West Brom appear set to host French giants Marseille in a pre-season friendly at The Hawthorns, according to the Birmingham Mail.
The Baggies’ preparations for the 2022/23 season will begin with a training camp in Portugal for the players, something that Steve Bruce did with both Newcastle United and Aston Villa in his previous jobs.
There is a potential for Albion to play their first pre-season friendly while they are in the Algarve before they will return to British shores to complete their preparations.
Lower league opposition in England is expected to make the majority of the games with Stevenage and Crewe Alexandra two of the clubs currently in discussions over a match.
But Marseille are the biggest draw and the club are hopeful of making a deal happen having not had a headline friendly at The Hawthorns last season due to the pandemic.
Great test
West Brom and Bruce will have big ambitions for next season and there will be plenty of talks going on about the rebuild that the club so desperately needs.
Games against weaker sides are great for building fitness but the boss will need to see how his new-look side would fair against top opposition and that is why this Marseille game makes so much sense.
Not only that but there will be a big financial benefit to hosting such a big side in the European game and their fans may even come over to the UK in their droves having not played at The Hawthorns before.
It could be a very different West Brom side that takes on the Ligue 1 outfit to the one that will play Coventry this weekend but that would be a very welcome change for Baggies fans.
There is a lot of rebuilding to do before then though and it looks set to be an extremely busy summer at the Albion once again.
In other West Brom news, Bruce is ready to open talks with a national team manager to beg him not to select this Albion ace for the summer fixtures.
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