West Brom may regret not doing transfer business earlier in January, as late Omari Hutchinson deal collapsed
West Brom may regret not doing their transfer business earlier in January, after late deadline day moves for Karlan Grant and Omari Hutchinson collapsed.
It was an incredibly busy deadline day for the Baggies chasing late transfer moves [Sam Wallace, 31 January] for Leicester City’s Marc Albrighton and Chelsea youngster Hutchinson as Baggies boss Carlos Corberan looked to bolster his attacking options.
However, whilst Albrighton secured his move to the West Midlands, the Baggies failed to secure Hutchinson’s signature at the 11th hour after Swansea’s late move for Karlan Grant confused matters, The Athletic [2 February] reported.
The report revealed “To bring Hutchinson in, West Brom had to shift out their forward, Karlan Grant. Swansea had spent all month pursuing Grant, but left it to the final stages of the window before making their move, which merely served to confuse matters further.
The Athletic’s Elias Burke [1 February] also revealed that “West Brom tried to sign Omari Hutchinson on loan as well but were unable to get the deal over the line in time.”
And it seems as though Corberan failed to get both of his targets simply because the Grant to Swansea move fell through at the last minute.
The Baggies and the fans might well be thinking about what might have been had both clubs aimed to do their business much earlier in the window rather than late on transfer deadline day.
It was quite clear that Corberan desired to let Grant leave considering their difficult history together after the forward was sold by Corberan at Huddersfield Town not long after being appointed in 2020.
Grant has rarely featured as a result this season and was looking to move on so he can get the first-team opportunities last season’s form deserved.
Had that occurred on time, Corberan could have had his top two attacking targets ready to go as the Baggies continued their pursuit of the Championship playoffs.
And the Spaniard desperately needed attacking reinforcements considering his attacking options have lacked the required form since the restart from the World Cup. Since then, all of Corberan’s preferred attacking trio of Daryl Dike, Grady Diangana and Jed Wallace have only registered 3 goals and an assist between them post-World Cup.
Corberan has also had to deal with a long-term injury to Matt Phillips, a three-game suspension for Brandon Thomas-Asante and the loss of form to attacking midfielder Tom Rogic which limited his attacking quality even further.
Any side battling for promotion needs all their attacking weapons in tip-top shape and the fact that Corberan could not add Hutchinson along with the experienced Albrighton may well ultimately come as a blow to their promotion charge.
Had they gotten rid of Grant earlier whilst securing the two attacking additions, the Baggies may well have been higher up in the table. For now, Corberan will have to work out how to get the best out of his misfiring attackers in order to achieve their promotion ambitions come to the end of the campaign.
In other West Brom news, a big money blow derailed another January deal that looked like getting done.