Supporters' club chairman urges West Brom to make early signings
Albion have been urged to strengthen their ‘bare-boned’ squad before pre-season starts by the supporters’ club chairman.
The Baggies are down to 14 senior outfield players, and one of those is exiled winger Callum McManaman who is up for sale this summer.
And so John Homer thinks it’s important the club make signings before the first team returns for pre-season in the opening week of July.
“We need new faces in before pre-season so they’re not playing catch-up,” said Homer. “We’re running on a small squad, we’ve lost Jonas Olsson and Darren Fletcher and we need to strengthen.
“It showed towards the end of the season, we didn’t have the chance to give the players any rest.
"Some of the players looked a little tired but there was no chance of rotating the squad. We’re down to bare bones at the moment.
"The chairman and the new owner will hopefully be looking to make up the numbers, and importantly, buy players who are ready to play, not those who need to catch up.
"We need players who can get into the team straight away. Everybody knows that, it doesn’t take an idiot to see it.”
Homer is ‘mystified’ that Fletcher was allowed to leave, but even though Albion are looking to replace the skipper in midfield, the supporters’ club chairman says priorities lie elsewhere.
He wants the club to buy a centre-back and a left-back this summer, but thinks the most important thing is to add two new strikers.
“Goals keep you up, so you’ve got to look at strikers,” he said. “Rondon had a dip in form last season and I think the jury’s still out on him.
“To be fair to the bloke he had a thankless task ploughing the lone furrow up front. The best he looked when he had another player alongside him.
“He’d like to come from deeper position but that was the role he was asked to play.
“We do need a couple of strikers though, because the lack of goals towards the end of the season was worrying.
"If we carry that on next season we’re going to be in trouble. Defensively we were sound, we weren’t getting tonked so strikers are the priority.
“Beyond that, I’d like another centre-half now we’ve lost Olsson. Although we’ve got players like Allan Nyom and Jake Livermore who are pretty versatile, we need a specialist centre-half and a left-back.”
Albion are willing to break their transfer record for top strike target Troy Deeney this summer, although they are balking at the £35m price-tag Watford have slapped on their captain. Homer thinks the former Walsall man would fit the bill.
“I wouldn’t say no, he’s proved his worth at this level, and he’s also a leader,” said Homer. “He’s got an excellent reputation at Watford, where he’s been a good club man, and he’s got the physique that Tony likes, nobody is going to knock him over easily.”
Albion are also one of several clubs interested in Montpellier’s 22-year-old striker Steve Mounie, but are not looking into Hull City midfielder Tom Huddlestone, as reported elsewhere.
