Lewis Dobbin set for early Aston Villa return as West Brom eye new transfer
West Brom are exploring the possibility of sending Lewis Dobbin back to parent club Aston Villa in January and bringing in another attacker, according to DOOD.
The West Brom fan account provided an update on Dobbin’s situation at West Brom via X [18 December], claiming he could see his loan deal terminated.
While Carlos Corberan recently lauded the youngster’s “growing” development at The Hawthorns, he has struggled for game time during his loan spell and has failed to impress when called upon.
DOOD added that Albion will prioritise signing a striker in January to ease the workload on Josh Maja.
West Brom want to send Lewis Dobbin back to Aston Villa
While Corberan’s comments suggested that Dobbin has a future at West Brom, it is undoubtedly within their best interests to send the forward back to Aston Villa.
The 21-year-old has featured 15 times in the Championship this term, albeit 13 of those appearances came off the bench, but he is yet to register a single goal contribution for the Baggies.
Albion have drawn the joint-most matches alongside Preston North End in the second tier, with 11 of the 21 outings ending in a stalemate – Corberan’s men have lacked the killer edge to get over the line on far too many occasions.
West Brom remain in playoff contention but have slipped out of the top six after three draws and one loss in the last five fixtures, and have only managed to score 24 goals thus far, the second-lowest tally among the top-12 sides.
While Dobbin’s situation deserves sympathy, the forward was sold by Everton in the summer in a Premier League transfer merry-go-round due to Profit and Sustainability rules – Albion cannot afford to carry any passengers in the quest for promotion to the top flight.
Corberan needs another regular goalscorer at The Hawthorns. Maja has carried the burden alone this year, and that is not a sustainable strategy for a side with Premier League aspirations – if Dobbin needs to be sacrificed to land a new forward, then so be it.
In other West Brom news, Baggies fans will be to blame if Carlos Corberan joins Southampton.
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