Devante Cole puts himself in shop window despite West Brom defeat v Lincoln
Devante Cole may be completing his final pre-season for West Brom, with a move away likely.
Cole, 30, was substituted on for Karlan Grant as the Baggies fell to a 4-2 defeat to League One Lincoln City on Saturday afternoon.
The Jamaican did not start a single game for the Albion last season and failed to score in the 14 appearances he did make off the bench in the Championship.
Naturally, Cole’s future in the Black Country is uncertain, but what he did against Lincoln City may have just put the veteran striker in the shop window.
Cole scores against Lincoln amid transfer speculation
Despite it only being pre-season, the nature of the defeat to Lincoln will be concerning for Ryan Mason, with his side being 2-0 down within the opening three minutes.
Naturally, there will be growing pains under Mason, as West Brom continue to adapt to their new manager’s style and philosophy.
After being labelled as not good enough for West Brom, ironically, it was Cole who scored the second goal for Mason’s side.
Hopefully, this incentivises a League One club to come in and take Cole off the books at The Hawthorns, with no approaches being made for the out-of-favour striker as of yet.
Cole was prolific at Barnsley in the third tier, as the striker notched 33 league goals across two seasons, and his strike against Lincoln in pre-season may be the reminder some clubs need that the forward can still contribute at that level.
West Brom must find a way of getting rid of Cole
With the arrival of Aune Heggebo for £4.75million, coupled with the returns of Josh Maja and Daryl Dike from their injury issues, Cole is at the back of a long queue to play up top for Mason next season.
Shilen Patel and Co. must do all they can to get Cole off the books, as they are currently paying a player who is unlikely to play a significant role under Mason at all next season, barring another injury crisis.
Cole is not the only player West Brom are looking to offload in the summer, with Kyle Bartley also not being a part of Mason’s plans after the arrivals of Nat Phillips and George Campbell.
If West Brom cannot sanction sales for these players, they will have to run their contracts down to ship them out of the Black Country for good.
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