Palermo blow West Brom out of water as £8.5m Chaka Traore update emerges from Sky Sports Italy
West Brom have been totally blown out of the water by Palermo after a new detail emerged on their move to sign Chaka Traore.
According to Sky Sports Italy on Thursday morning (1 February, 8:55 am) Palermo reached an agreement with AC Milan to sign the West Brom target loan with a “right of redemption set at €10million (£8.5m) plus a percentage of 15% on future resale.”
The Baggies themselves reached an agreement with Milan to sign Traore and were awaiting the player’s final decision over which club he wished to join ahead of Thursday’s transfer deadline [Foot Mercato].
However, in a fresh blow for West Brom, Fabrizio Romano reported via his personal X account (31 January) that the Albion will not be signing him with Palermo beating Carlos Corberan to the talented forward’s signature.
And West Brom will now be intrigued to learn that the Italian outfit have blown them out of the water given the figure they’ve just agreed to pay AC Milan, one which the Black Country outfit will not have had the remit to match.
Since Jeremy Sarmiento left the club, cutting short his loan move to join Ipswich, attention has been on bringing in new faces to strengthen the club.
Corberan has managed to bring in Callum Marshall and Andy Weimann, and the Baggies have been linked with several names such as Omonia Nicosia winger Loizos Loizou (Anthony Joseph, 29 January) but suffered a blow when he decided to join Dutch side Herenveen.
Given that two new attackers are through the door already ahead of the February 1 deadline, it looks as though there could well be another in if there is room.
And the news that there were funds available was promising news given the financial state West Brom are in right now which has forced them to seek loan deals in the first place.
Traore seemed to have been an exciting prospect for the Baggies given his profile, potential and resale value but it seems the youngster wanted to stay in Italy.
The 19-year-old has very little first-team experience but has managed to score twice for Milan this season in just four appearances in all competitions which suggests there is plenty of talent and potential there.
The Serie A side won’t be sending him out to gain first-team experience if he wasn’t highly regarded at the San Siro but West Brom may well have lost the race because of the massive financial demands.
Palermo have indeed completely blown them away with this one.
In other West Brom news, an Express & Star journalist has shared what a lone Albion fan did to the Wolves staff amid a pitch invasion during the FA Cup clash.
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