West Brom coy on Tahith Chong as Birmingham lead race
West Brom are not leading the race to sign Manchester United winger Tahith Chong on deadline day, according to Joe Chapman.
The Curacao-born 22-year-old spent last season on loan at the Baggies’ bitter rivals Birmingham City where he scored just one goal in 20 Championship appearances.
But the Blues want to sign him permanently now and they are the current leaders to sign the Dutchman ahead of Steve Bruce’s Albion.
“Have seen the links with Chong. Albion have played that down,” Chapman said via his personal Twitter account. “Led to believe Blues are still at the front of the queue.”
Chong had been touted for greatness at Old Trafford as a younger player but a combination of injuries and a lack of game time have stunted his growth as a player and he is now set to leave the Red Devils for good.
Avoid
One goal in 20 matches for a player who is supposed to be an exciting attacking talent is not something that will impress Bruce and West Brom so they have to avoid this move at all costs.
Chong doesn’t have an obvious position where he would come in and start with Grady Diangana now finding his best form again and Jed Wallace’s quality commanding the opposite flank.
Bruce should be much more focused on signing a striker to add to Karlan Grant and Brandon Thomas-Asante just to ensure that injuries can’t derail the club’s entire season yet again.
A new goalkeeper to usurp David Button would be very much welcomed too if promotion to the Premier League is a genuine target for the season.
Time is rapidly running out for Bruce to make those final additions to his Albion squad and the first litmus test of the finalised squad is coming up on Friday against Burnley.
In other West Brom news, talks are ongoing for this Baggie to leave the club before 11pm today and it looks set to be a sideways career move.