Bakary Sako returning to Crystal Palace three months after signing for West Brom
Bakary Sako is returning to former club Crystal Palace just three months after joining Albion as a free agent.
The 30-year-old, who was signed in October until the end of the season, has struggled to break into Darren Moore’s team.
Albion are off-loading his £30,000-a-week wages in order to free up funds for the final week of the January transfer window.
The club have already approached Newcastle with a loan offer for winger Jacob Murphy, and are keen to bring in another attacker on top of that.
The Baggies have already had Harvey Barnes recalled by Leicester this month and have sent Oliver Burke out on loan to Celtic.
Sako has only started two games in the Championship since his arrival, although he did score the winner in a 1-0 win over Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup third round.
However, the former Wolves winger is still struggling to break into the starting XI – despite a number of injuries in midfield and Barnes’s return to Leicester.
Sako left Palace in the summer after rejecting their offer for a new deal, and was handed a contract by Albion after training with the Baggies.
But Palace are desperate for forward players and this week Eagles boss Roy Hodgson contacted his former club Albion with an offer to take Sako’s hefty wages off their books.
The 30-year-old is undergoing a medical at Beckenham today and his return to Selhurst Park is expected to be completed over the weekend.
It leaves Albion short of numbers for tomorrow’s FA Cup fourth round match at Brighton & Hove Albion.
Sako was expected to feature in that game in order to give the front three a rest, but he will now not be available.
The Baggies already have Chris Brunt, James Morrison, Matt Phillips, and Jake Livermore unavailable, with Gareth Barry unlikely to feature.
