Lewis Cox and Jonny Drury discuss Karlan Grant and what the upcoming season holds for the returning striker.
Grant spent last season out on loan at Cardiff City - before returning to Albion for pre-season training.
He is set to feature in the upcoming behind closed doors friendlies and Lewis and Jonny look at whether he can force his way back into Carlos Corberan's plans?
Grant spent last season out on loan at Cardiff City - before returning to Albion for pre-season training.
He is set to feature in the upcoming behind closed doors friendlies and Lewis and Jonny look at whether he can force his way back into Carlos Corberan's plans?
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00:00Koxi, another face we've seen appearing on pre-season pictures is Carlin Grant, someone
00:14who spent last season out on loan at Cardiff. He comes back, he's still got two years left
00:18on his Albion deal, he's back in the Albion squad for training this summer. Can you see
00:27him being reintegrated back into Carlos Corbijn's plans, or is it likely he might depart on
00:35another loan?
00:38In honesty, no, Jonny. That's coming from a bit of information of what we've gathered,
00:45what we understand and just how I see it really. Don't get me wrong, look at Albion's squad
00:52at the moment as we speak, in terms of certainly senior options. Corbijn sees Carlin Grant
00:58as a left-sided forward, basically a left winger, not a natural winger obviously, but
01:03a left-sided attacker to play, left of a 4-2-3-1 or maybe even 4-3-3. Beyond Grant and Grady
01:11de Angana, who last season played centrally, so does Corbijn see him more as a number 10?
01:17Beyond Grant and Grady, who is that at the minute? No-one. I do think that left attacking
01:22role will be pretty high, be it a versatile winger who can go either side, but will be
01:27high on Corbijn's wishlist and shopping list at the moment. I do think that's where he'll
01:31be looking, because it's fairly threadbare. That aside, I see Grant going out again, I
01:37don't see a sale. Albion's still paying Huddersfield towards the hefty fee he cost, what, 2020
01:45was it, four years ago? Four years, staggered payments into the six. Those kinds of financial
01:54reasons was why he took the loan to Cardiff last season. Obviously, the bulk of Carlin
01:59Grant's wages last season were paid by Cardiff. He did pretty well in South Wales, I think
02:04by all accounts. Didn't score masses, but seemed to feature pretty regularly. I think
02:08he played 30-odd times and was a pretty consistent member of the squad there in South Wales.
02:14So, again, Carlin Grant, a decent age profile, probably as suit as you would suspect. In
02:22terms of clubs, looking to take a player of his profile on loan for the season again,
02:27I would think. Look, I say he didn't score too many for Cardiff last season, but did
02:32enough obviously to be a regular fixture there. So, I think clubs will sort of heed that and
02:37have a look. I don't see, even if the market doesn't quite go Albion's way and a couple
02:42of wide targets don't quite land for whatever reason, I just don't, not sure I see Grant
02:48as part of the squad. I'm not, I just can't see it really. So, I realise there'll be those
02:54watching this probably think, well, you know, with light on finances, light on bodies, can
03:01he be an option? Can he be reintegrated? But I just, I just can't see that for one reason
03:08or another. So, I think it will bolster and boost Albion Coffers and what they may be
03:13able to do in the market, in possibly other positions within the squad. When Grant's,
03:19a move, a club for Grant is found and those wages can be saved. I think, I think Corbyn
03:25wants to add more players into his squad that are his, you know, that are picked by him,
03:29that are his sort of players, his sort of methods and the savings on Grant's wages loan,
03:36will be able to do that, might lead to the wages spent on another loan player that comes
03:41in for similar money, maybe even two, you know, if they're younger players who are a
03:44little bit cheaper. So, I think it can be well spent and that's a massive part of Albion's
03:48business this summer. So, yeah, I don't see it with Grant. Look, he might be involved
03:52in the behind closed doors friendlies if a loan doesn't happen that early and yeah, hopefully
03:57he can do all right and score a goal or two and sort of boost that profile. We'll see,
04:02we'll see what, what kind of club sort of come in for Grant. If it's not from the Championship
04:07then, you know, perhaps overseas. I don't know if I can see that, but wouldn't be the
04:13biggest shock in the world, I don't think. I don't see him dropping down to League One.
04:16I know there are a couple of big hitters, you're Birmingham and Huddersfield at that
04:19level who are spending a bit for the third tier, but yeah, I suspect there'll be, there'll
04:24be Championship interest in a loan for him.