Tony Mowbray and Ian Pearce working around the clock on European market for West Brom

Pearce, who has been at the club for more than six years, is director of football operations at The Hawthorns and oversees the player scouting and recruitment team.

The former Premier League-winning defender with Blackburn works closely with sporting director Andrew Nestor, the Bilkul board member, at the top of Albion's football structure.

Mowbray revealed at his press conference on Friday morning that he had a late Thursday night studying footage of players from across the continent with Pearce as the Baggies plot their moves in the remaining 10 days of the January window.

Albion are seeking to recruit a centre-forward - Mowbray wants a striker who "lives for goals" - given the lack of depth in that area especially after the injury to top scorer Josh Maja.

The club's recruitment model, as is generally the case in recruitment now, is guided by digital apps like 'Wyscout', which crunches data and provides clips and information on any player or team across the globe. Albion will then focus scouting once the data has led them in a specific direction.

Midfielder Isaac Price, a £2.5million signing who checked in this week, was a target of Bilkul's last summer. Head coach Mowbray admitted Price was not on his radar when he returned to the club seven days ago, but the head coach will be abreast and have a say on recruitment.

Mowbray said: "I know the club have been working hard in the background trying to add. That continues.

"I sat with Ian till pretty late last night watching players from across Europe. There are one or two issues as to why you can or can't get certain players in, how eligible they are, but generally the club are working hard and trying to help.

"Hopefully in the next two weeks we'll add a player who lives for goals. Who is the best in the world at scoring goals? Erling Haaland, some games he has ten touches but scores three goals.

"We need to have players on the pitch who can supply a player who wants to score, who is always in the six-yard box and demands the winger puts the ball in. They're not easy to find. Every club wants a goalscorer. Hopefully we can work with the ones we've got."

The eligibility Mowbray referenced is the Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) criteria. These calculate whether overseas players can sign for Premier League and EFL clubs via a points-based system.

Clubs from the top four divisions can sign two players that do not qualify through the nation and league they signed from. All divisions globally are 'banded', which have made recruits from markets like south Asia more attainable. Those signings who do not qualify are known as elite significant contribution (ESC) players.

Premier League and Championship clubs can add a further two ESC signings, so four in total, based on the percentage of minutes they give to English players. Albion filled their slots last summer with the additions of Ousmane Diakite, Torbjorn Heggem, Uros Racic and Gianluca Frabotta. British signings from overseas, like Price, are not included.

Albion's current centre-forward options include Maja, who is sidelined after a leg injury and is not due to return until at least into March. There is also long-term injury absentee Daryl Dike, who is a couple of weeks from a potential playing return.

Karlan Grant has played in a front two, generally with Maja, for much of the last few months after beginning the season on the left flank. Mowbray suggested in his press conference that Grant prefers himself in a 'left forward' role, cutting on to his favoured foot.

The only 'natural' available centre-forward is Devante Cole. The 29-year-old was a free agent signing last summer after leaving League One Barnsley following 18 goals last term. Cole has spent the season kicking his heels at The Hawthorns after not being offered an opportunity under former boss Carlos Corberan.

Corberan said at one point that signings like Cole were needed to boost numbers as Albion headed into the new season.

"Every club does recruitment slightly differently but it's driven by data - scouts would cover as much ground as they could, but now you have Wyscout and look at any player in the world," continued Mowbray.

"The data points to the player you should be looking at, that you can afford. Then you can send your scouts to watch them live. Do they have personality? Your eyes play a crucial part in every signing.

"A week into the job, I haven't started stamping my feet saying I want to take charge. I'm happy to learn as much as possible about this group of players and what makes them tick."