Carlos Corberan may receive West Brom transfer boost in play-off push after takeover update revealed
Since arriving at West Brom part way into the 2022/23 campaign, Carlos Corberan’s hands have been tied in terms of player recruitment.
The Spanish manager was limited to the loan and free-agent market this summer, only making three additions to his squad, with only Josh Maja’s arrival at The Hawthorns being a permanent switch as he joined from Bordeaux on a free transfer.
Primarily, the Albion boss was unable to add to his squad because of a lack of investment from the current owners of West Brom, but it feels as though things might be heading in the right direction to allow Corberan to add to his squad properly in January.
Reports emerged in September that parties from America and the Middle East had entered talks with Guochuan Lai to end his spell as majority shareholder at The Hawthorns [Daily Mail, 20 September] while NDAs are already in place after Mark Miles confirmed the process should be completed before the end of the season.
A further boost to the potential takeover has been spotted with Adrian Goldberg confirming on The Liquidator Podcast (5 November) that sports lawyer David Hinchcliffe had been spotted alongside Lai during the Baggies’ win over Hull City.
Hinchcliffe has supposedly been involved in around 50 football-related deals, so his presence would suggest that negations between parties have begun and are continuing over a potential future sale. With Chris Lepowski confirming one party is incredibly serious [The Liquidator Podcast].
While no takeover has been completely agreed upon as of yet, the initial suggestion is that a takeover is heading in the correct direction and West Brom could have a new owner in the not-too-distant future, in a move that could allow Corberan to continue his push for the play-off places.
The Spanish manager has started the season incredibly well with a limited budget and a rather small first-team squad, with Albion currently sitting fifth in the Championship, well and truly in the race for the play-off positions.
There is every chance that if the Baggies continued their impressive recent run of form for the remainder of the campaign, they would finish in the top six with the squad already at their disposal, but with a few extra additions in January it could become even more certain.
Under the current ownership model, it has been made clear Corberan will have little to no money to spend when the transfer window reopens once again, but should the right new owner arrive with a war chest ahead of January, it could well see Albion secure their position.
Given the impressive exploits of Corberan’s side, before any money has been spent, you would imagine that the team would only get better with one or two quality additions when the new year rolls around.
Both supporters and the Baggies’ boss will be hoping a deal can get over the line in the coming weeks and months and this team and club can finally realise its full potential.
In other West Brom news, Kyle Bartley is set to undergo a scan after picking up an injury in the Baggies’ win over Hull