Carlos Corberan predicts a West Brom frenetic final week
Albion boss Carlos Corberan predicts a “crazy” final week of the transfer window – and hinted at an advantage in the club’s late push for additions.
It has been an extremely challenging window for Albion with funds not readily available due to a lack of investment from absent ownership and a cease in Premier League parachute payments.
Corberan, who takes Albion to former club Leeds tonight, has added loanee Jeremy Sarmiento and free agent Josh Maja to his ranks. The club are still working on exits.
The head coach is braced for a busy end to the market, which closes two weeks tonight, but suggested the Baggies may be rewarded for their patience with late financially-viable loan deals.
“One hundred per cent (there will be other interest in targets),” Corberan said. “But sometimes it’s positive that the loans happen late because then maybe you have the financial possibilities and if the loan happened before you cannot approach that one because you used the resources you could’ve had on the last day. I cannot be more honest or clear, you have to understand this.”
He said: “I think the last week of the market is the crazy one, but not for everyone.
“For example for Middlesbrough last week has been the important one, some money for Akpom and then a striker and another player. For Stoke the important week was two or three ago with an important striker, for Swansea it was even before, the sign Yates. Every club is different.
“The ones making the moves before normally will be more calm, unless the financial possibilities are massive and the results haven’t been the best ones.
“For us I knew the last week of the market will be the challenging one, because in football this can happen, we need to be ready this week to strengthen our squad, that is the target.”
Corberan further explained Albion’s possibilities this summer differ significantly from the previous off-season window – when Albion brought in high-profile free transfers Jed Wallace, John Swift and Okay Yokuslu, and £300,000 on Brandon Thomas-Asante, before Tom Rogic, Erik Pieters and Martin Kelly checked in on a free transfer.
Albion’s head coach added that working within such tight parameters has made it difficult for the club to be proactive.
“The adaptability is still there, we knew the summer would be a challenging one, the people working in the market for the club is putting a lot of effort to make things possible to cover the needs but not everything depends on that,” he said.
“We know our market was loans or free players, this summer we couldn’t make a different market.
“It’s free or loans with certain financial possibilities, not every free player was available for us, not every loan player was available for us. Last year the club achieved some important, free players in clever moments, this year it’s different.
“Last year the loans were different, there were none in the summer, this is different because the financial possibilities are different, we need to adapt to those and we’re still in the process.
“Last year the club was proactive because at the beginning of the summer was Swift and Wallace and Okay, three important signings.
“But our possibilities right now doesn’t allow us to be as proactive as we’d like as a club. But the possibilities make us need to approach the market differently – more difficult or challenging? Yes.”
