West Brom ‘behind curve’ on Keinan Davis transfer – Chris Lepkowski
West Brom appear to have missed out on signing Aston Villa striker Keinan Davis but Chris Lepkowski thinks another new recruit is not far away.
The Baggies manager Steve Bruce confirmed after the 1-0 Carabao Cup win over Sheffield United that the 24-year-old was on his shortlist of strikers with Daryl Dike out for a long period of time.
But The Athletic have reported today that fellow Championship side Watford have won the race to sign Davis, who helped Nottingham Forest to promotion last season.
Lepkowski, the former head of media at The Hawthorns, thinks Albion were always behind the eight-ball on the Davis front but knows that work is being done to bring in a new number nine.
It’s fine. They’ll get someone elsewhere,” he said via his personal Twitter account. “Groundwork would have been done by others long before Dike injury so we were always going to be behind curve.”
Cleary time
West Brom find themselves in the exact same position they were towards the end of January with Dike ruled out for some time and only Karlan Grant a natural striker in the senior squad.
But this time, they have a second chance to give teenage sensation Reyes Cleary his chance after the 18-year-old started and impressed against the Blades in round one of the League Cup.
He may not have found the net, with Grant coming off the bench to score the winner, but he did look very accomplished given it was his first professional start at a senior level.
Cleary very nearly ended up away from West Brom having let his contract run down at the end of last season but he did not get a reasonable offer from elsewhere and instead chose to stay with the Baggies.
That decision and the scare the club got has to spark something with Bruce that makes him give the teenager far more opportunities and this might be the best chance he will ever get to do that.
In other West Brom news, it is deja vu for Dike who could now be a doubt for the United States as they head to Qatar in November for the World Cup.
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