West Brom looking to cut back on historic high-earners
Albion are working to ensure they do not suffer from a repeat of ill-fated lengthy bumper contracts.
The Baggies are yet to kickstart their summer recruitment and are working under tight financial restraints this summer with no assistance from parachute payments.
Albion are trying to reduce the wage budget ahead of the new campaign, and managing director Mark Miles confirmed the club carry one of the highest in the Championship.
Despite former club captain Jake Livermore departing at the end of his contract this summer, there remains several high-earners in the squad from prior to 2018, when an eight-season stint in the Premier League came to an end.
Asked of the process behind Albion's recruitment, Miles explained: "That will be dealt with by Ian (Pearce) – Ian and Carlos have those links. Going through agents, players, whether it's moving out or in it's very much agent-based.
"The recruitment team will identify players from a particular area that Carlos (Corberan) is looking for and they will go ahead. They identify particular characteristics, are the people right, the skills right, we make sure it fits into our model, that financially we can afford it.
"We need to make sure with any players we sign we don't have too big a wage contract going into multiple years, that's something we're feeling a little bit at the moment, players on high salaries coming down from the Premier League days, which are just too high for the Championship.
"We still have and will still have one of the highest wage bills in the Championship and it's being able to bring that down to a level that is sustainable if we remain a Championship club."
Miles added: "Conversations will go on through agents, we will pick those up, identify internally what the expectations are, a full analysis is done on all players, players who've previously been in those positions, those kind of ages and skills, to make sure we get the market rate."
Albion, meanwhile, will today release their new home kit for 2023/24 in honour of Jeff Astle, whose Foundation is the new charity for the forthcoming season.
