Tony Pulis lifts lid on West Brom’s interest in Harry Maguire and Virgil Van Dijk
Tony Pulis has revealed that West Brom were interested in signing both Harry Maguire and Virgil van Dijk, during his time at the Hawthorns.
The Welshman was in charge of the Baggies between 2015 and 2017 during a period of success at the Hawthorns and oversaw several big transfers, including the additions of Darren Fletcher and Jonny Evans from Manchester United.
But Pulis has revealed that there were a number of other transfer targets where deals didn’t quite make it over the line or he wasn’t convinced by the individual players, including two of the Premier League’s most expensive defenders.
Explaining the potential transfers on the Baggies Broadcast (12 September, 36:00) he said: “John Williams had said Maguire, but I thought Jonny Evans was better than Maguire and they’ll argue that Maguire went to Leicester and then got sold for an absolute fortune. But I thought Jonny was better than Maguire.
“Jonathan Gould had played at Celtic and Gouldy had mentioned him [van Dijk] on numerous occasions so that was on the scouting network but whether we thought he was going to be too much or too expensive I honestly don’t know. He was definitely one that was brought up.”
Evans was better
Most football fans will have their own opinions on who is a better defender out of Evans and Maguire and it is probably fair to argue there hasn’t been too much to separate the pair throughout their respective careers.
However, it is slightly strange to think that Pulis could have had Manchester United’s current centre-back pairing lining up for him in defence at the Hawthorns over half a decade ago, had the Baggies decided to make a move for Maguire.
Missing out on Van Dijk may be a bit more of a sore spot for both West Brom fans and their former manager. The Liverpool defender has been excellent at both Anfield and St Mary’s and would have likely helped the Baggies’ hopes of remaining in the top-flight.
Ultimately, Southampton signed the Dutchman from Celtic for £13 million in 2015 [BBC Sport] a fee not too dissimilar to what Pulis spent on Salomon Rondon in the same year. Maybe West Brom could have found the money to be able to complete the signing of Van Dijk and who knows what would have happened to both Pulis and the Baggies since.
In other West Brom news, Carlos Corberan has admitted that Jeremy Sarmiento has “problems” he needs to conquer before he can start matches