West Brom can still save their season if Guochuan Lai puts his hand in his pocket
It is well known that West Brom don’t have a lot of money right now, but they were still able to significantly improve their squad during the summer.
John Swift, Jed Wallace, Okay Yokuslu, Brendan Thomas-Asante and Michael Kelly all joined the club for a combined £300k, but the window will forever be remembered for the the deals that didn’t happen.
Josh Onomah’s loan from Fulham may have fallen through after medicals and signatures were complete because the paperwork wasn’t filed on time, while Brighton’s Steven Alzate’s papers were late too, potentially putting an end to that deal.
There were also failed pursuits of Tahith Chong and Theo Walcott on the day, with the club simply not having enough money to do the deals.
However that wouldn’t be the case if chairman Guochuan Lai had paid back the £10m he owed when he was initially supposed to, or not taken it out to begin with.
A club that has been in the Premier League in nine of the last 12 seasons shouldn’t be in the financial position that West Brom are in, and it’s hard to see the club competing to get back there successfully without significant investment in the playing squad.
It’s not fair on anyone, let alone the fans, that he can put the club at risk for the sake of his other businesses while West Brom suffer in the short and medium term because of it.
While the transfer window is closed now, there is still a chance for Lai and Bruce to come together and save the howler of a deadline day by using the free agent market once again.
There are several international calibre players who are still without a club, who would be able to sign for the club even still because of their lack of a contract elsewhere.
Obviously many of those players are out of reach because we’re in the second tier. But if the owner is willing to put his hand in his pocket and back the manager as he should have done, then there is business that can be done.
Aaron Lennon is unlikely to cost a lot in wages and would offer great competition on the wing with his pace and experience, while Premier League winners Daniel Sturridge and Danny Drinkwater both just want to play football again regularly.
The deals are unlikely, obviously, but beyond the names listed there are countless others who could probably do a job even on a short-term deal similar to what Andy Carroll did last season.
There is an opportunity for the owner to make things right and give the manager and the fans the squad they deserve to challenge for promotion, rather than simply just exist in the second tier and be happy about it.