Baggies already on the lookout for their window of opportunity
ALBION’S preparations for the winter transfer window are well under way, according to head coach Darren Moore.
Technical director Luke Dowling and new head of recruitment Ian Pearce will be charged with identifying and scouting potential targets in the coming weeks.
They will present their findings to Moore with whom the final decision will rest.
“It starts around about now for January,” Moore said. “We need to move that on so it’s good to have both men in. Initially we’ll be looking at January and spotting personnel out there that can enhance us as a team and the club as a whole.
“It’s getting down to work and seeing how the next few weeks and months go.”
Despite exercising flex-down contracts post-relegation, Albion are thought to run the second-largest player salary budget in the Championship behind Stoke.
New figures for the 2016/17 season showed West Brom’s playerwages-to-income ratio at 57 per cent, the second-highest of 76 British clubs who publish the data.
Having made a profit in the region of £8 million in the summer, the club will have money to spend in January, even if no-one is sold. A ball-playing left-sided defender will be high on the list of priorities.
Kyle Bartley, a £4 million summer signing from Swansea, has struggled on the left of a defensive three that has been encouraged to build attacks from the back.
A dynamic, box-to-box central midfielder is also likely to be on the shopping list. Five players have been tried in a central midfield two.
Chris Brunt, Gareth Barry and James Morrison are all in excess of 32, while Jake Livermore turns 29 next week. Academy graduate Sam Field, 20, is the only youthful option in central midfield, but has rarely been used in league matches.
Moore hopes the arrival of Dowling, from Nottingham Forest, and Pearce, from Brighton, will lighten the recruitment load on him and set the club up to succeed in the transfer market.
“All three of us will come into agreement, along with the owners of the football club, to identify key personnel,” he said.
“It’s great for us to have Ian and the recruitment department working to spot and identify talent we feel we need to move forward. It will build our knowledge on the players out there who are available and suit and fit our model.
“Once those key individuals are identified, we’ll come together as a group and if we feel it’s right for a player to come here, we’ll bring that player in.”
With technical consultant Giuliano Terraneo removed from negotiations by chief executive Mark Jenkins, much of the recruitment responsibility fell to Moore over the summer, just weeks after setting foot into management. And when Richard Garlick left as director of football administration in July, there was a greater burden.