West Brom £60m takeover race against time as costs must be slashed in January, Carlos Corberan could see squad picked apart
West Brom are now in a “race against time” to get their takeover deal across the line before the end of January to avoid losing players, according to The Telegraph.
The paper reported via their website on 12 December that with the club still under pressure to “slash costs” in the transfer window as things stand Carlos Corberan faces the danger of his squad being “picked apart”.
If the takeover can be done in time, with the £60million deal said to be “edging closer” as Guochuan Lai gears up to grant exclusivity to a preferred bidder, it would help avoid a fire sale at The Hawthorns.
West Brom are currently fifth in the Championship table and exits could severely hamper the promotion push if new owners don’t come in with in the next few weeks.
Now or never
It would be excruciating for the good work that Corberan and his depleted squad have pulled off in the first half of the season was undercut by this crucial deal not being done in time.
On the other hand, were a buyer to complete a takeover quickly there is potentially scope for the manager to be boosted with a couple of arrivals.
New owners may not be in position to splurge in January given half of the expected sale price is tipped to go on current debts, but with serious injuries continuing to mount even low-cost reinforcements could make a big difference.
Josh Maja and Matt Phillips are both out for months and their seasons could feasibly be over already, with Daryl Dike still not back from the achilles rupture that he suffered last term.
So help in attack would at least keep the Baggies from being significantly worse off than they have been so far as they battle for promotion back to the Premier League.
It looks like the takeover question is going to be tight whichever way it falls but it could be the difference between a return to the top flight or another season in the second tier.
In other West Brom news, any player could go next month if the landscape hasn’t change in time.