Express & Star

Striker Devante Cole set for West Brom as long-serving Conor Townsend heads to Ipswich

Albion are on the verge of signing free agent striker Devante Cole with fellow frontman Brandon Thomas-Asante poised to seal his Hawthorns exit.

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Former Barnsley centre-forward Cole, 29, was released by the Tykes this summer after an impressive 18-goal campaign in League One as his previous club finished sixth.

The rangy striker started his career as a youngster at Manchester City more than a decade ago and has since turned out for Bradford and Fleetwood, among others, in the Football League. He enjoyed a decent campaign of 12 goals with Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership in 2020/21 and spent the last three seasons with Barnsley.

His last two seasons yielded a return of 16 and 18 goals in the third tier after two goals in 27 appearances in his debut Barnsley campaign, in the Championship.

Cole is Albion's first new forward recruit of the summer and is understood to have been brought in on a reasonable, affordable salary from a Baggies perspective, as top goalscorer over the last two campaigns Brandon Thomas-Asante is set to complete an exit to Hull City.