West Bromwich Albion season objectives as key players depart in transfer window, leaving a big gap in defence
As West Bromwich Albion are nearing another interesting season in the Championship, we’re discussing their current situation involving transfers and their pre season plans, to ensure they are well set to compete again near the top of the division and possibly achieve promotion.
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00:00Charlie, finally on to West Bromwich Abbey and now obviously we've mentioned a few sort
00:04of contract situations that were going on and how important it was to secure those.
00:09Is there any sort of progress with some of their key players from last season and what
00:14can you tell us on that on the transfer front so far in this window for Carlos Corbijn's
00:18side?
00:19Yes, so new contracts have been signed by key players you mentioned. Karl Bartley being
00:25one of those. He's a centre-back who's spent six years at the Hawthorns so far, well into
00:29his thirties now but still very capable as we saw at the end of last season. He's carrying
00:34on for another year and then potentially another 12 months after that if he reaches enough
00:38appearances in an Albion shirt. Still waiting on fellow centre-back Cedric Kiprae and what's
00:44going to happen with him. There's a lot of interest, especially from Turkey, potentially
00:48the bottom of the Premier League as well for him. Probably West Brom's best player last
00:53season, so that's understandable. But a decent contract offer is on the table, it's just
00:56awaiting if he's going to be signing that one or not. Then Alex Mowat, the central midfielder
01:01who Corbijn used in that number eight position last season, ahead of Jason Malumby and then
01:06Malumby got injured, which helped Mowat solidify that even more. Interest for him at the top
01:10of the Championship and bottom of the Premier League as well, but he has decided to stay
01:13at the Hawthorns for at least another two years. So two massive bonuses there, I think,
01:18to keep the current crop in. I think the Kiprae one, though, is a very nervous weight.
01:23And where are Albion looking to get their players from? Obviously, you mentioned there
01:27that clubs at the bottom of the Premier League and top of the Championships are going to
01:31be looking at, sometimes due to the fees and money they can spend, clubs around that mid-table
01:38in the Championships. So where does Albion look? Because there's a lot of difference
01:42between signing a Championship player or a Premier League player who might have got relegated,
01:47for example. How important is it that you get these players that can offer that experience
01:52and the talent as well?
01:54Well, I think it's going to have to look abroad and be a bit more outside the box. They've
01:58already signed a Malian central midfielder on a free transfer, and then it looks in Scandinavia
02:03as well, set to sign a young centre-back from there who's got the height he can pass out
02:07from the back. So that's some shrewd business from them. It's just trying to continue that
02:10run, make the most of that free agents market. Now that contracts have officially expired,
02:15there are going to be so many players available that people might not have heard of. It's
02:19just trying to find those gems again in the market that are hidden, and continuing on
02:24from there. Because West Brom don't have the money to spend, they're going to have to be clever.
02:27And finally, on them and their pre-season plans, what's it looking like? Because we've
02:33discussed how important it is that Coorbran's side continue their consistency that they
02:38had at times of the season, and hopefully find themselves ending up near the play-off places.
02:44They've got quite a few games coming up in pre-season. They've already reported back
02:47to full training. West Brom against Bolton is the first one, and then the game against
02:52Peterborough to get either 60, 70, 80 minutes maybe for Coorbran to figure out who exactly
02:57he wants to start on that opening day of the season.