Stoke City now ready to bid £2.5m for West Brom star Brandon Thomas-Asante
West Brom face a fresh fight to keep hold of Brandon Thomas-Asante as Stoke City are preparing an improved £2.5million bid for the forward, according to Darren Witcoop.
The Sunday Mirror journalist posted on his personal Twitter page on Wednesday [30 August] that Stoke are readying the new offer after their initial bid of £2m was knocked back, as previously reported by Sky Sports’ Lyall Thomas.
Albion must now decide whether to reject or accept the latest proposal for the 24-year-old, with the transfer window closing at 11pm on Friday [1 September].
Move on, Stoke
Thomas-Asante has done well to fill the massive void left by Daryl Dike’s latest lay-off, scoring nine times in 36 Championship outings overall since joining last summer.
While that may not exactly come across as the most prolific of returns, Thomas-Asante has started this season superbly, scoring in three of his four appearances thus far.
That includes a goal in Albion’s 2-1 loss at Stoke the EFL Cup on 8 August, which may well have played a part in the Potters stepping forward with this late approach.
Cashing in on Thomas-Asante for £2.5m would make a nice profit for the Baggies, who only paid around £300,000 to sign him from Salford City almost 12 months ago to the day.
However, in the current market, when Championship players are going for more than £40m (albeit with Premier League experience), this deal makes no real sense from West Brom’s perspective.
Add in the fact they would only have a couple of days to find a replacement, and it seems almost certain that this latest bid will also be knocked back.
It is then down to Stoke whether they come in with a third offer, though they would surely be better off looking elsewhere if Albion make their stance clear.
In other West Brom news, Carlos Corberan has set an Albion player a challenge for the season ahead.