ALBION IN FOR £25m DEENEY
. . . and are set to pay him £100k a week
WESt Bromwich Albion are prepared to make troy Deeney the club’s top earner and offer a contract worth £100,000 per week if a deal can be struck with Watford.
tony Pulis is determined to add quality to his squad and strengthening his strike force is a priority. Salomon Rondon and Hal RobsonKanu — who mustered 11 Premier League goals between them — were his only options up front.
Birmingham-born Deeney has been an integral figure at Watford for seven years but there is a feeling he could well move on this summer with West Brom at the front of the queue and able to present six- figure terms including bonuses.
Watford would hold out for a significant fee given Deeney has four years left on a deal he signed last summer. Watford may be tempted to accept a bid of £20million for a player who is 29 next month, but would prefer the £25m clause in his contract to be activated.
Deeney is understood to have been concerned at the direction of Watford under Walter Mazzarri, who was sacked in part for a poor grasp of English, and even with the Italian gone might feel the time is right to depart Vicarage Road after repeated upheaval of managers and players.
Pulis has tracked Deeney, who has scored 23 Premier League goals in his two campaigns, for the past two transfer windows and the West Brom head coach has this week been in China to discuss budgets with the club’s owners.
Guochuan Lai is expected to keep a relatively close grip on finances but money raised from Saido Berahino’s £15m January sale to Stoke will be added to the annual cash pool and a club-record bid for Deeney is well within reach. West Brom’s current highest transfer is the £13m paid to tottenham for Nacer Chadli.
Deeney, who is a vocal figure in the dressing room, would command a sizeable contract too given his current terms at Watford but West Brom would be willing to go above the £75,000 per week paid to top earner Jonny Evans and into the six-figure bracket counting add-ons.
Leicester made a concerted effort to sign Deeney last summer and may repeat their interest, but West Brom’s base on the outskirts of Birmingham is a factor.