West Bromwich Albion Getting Busy in the Transfer Window

    If you’re a supporter of WBA like me then you’d understand the frustration that the fans go through during the transfer windows in the summer and winter as we seldom signed multiple players, and if we did, they were either frees or players who cost no more than £2m. Under Hodgson’s reign we did sign a few players which were encouraging to see but this was over the two transfer windows. However now that Steve Clarke has come in as Hodgson’s replacement he is going wild in this summer transfer window and the season hasn’t even started.

     

    With this flurry of summer signings I have been impressed with Clarke’s vision of where he wants this club to go, and with these signings they can definitely help him achieve his targets. His first summer signing was Birmingham goalkeeper Ben Foster who had impressed last season on loan for West Brom. He played a vital part for West Brom and helped them finish in 10th position – the highest place West Brom has ever finished in the Premier League.

   

   Foster is a good signing for West Brom as we haven’t really had a good history with goalkeepers, Carson, Kirkland and Myhill didn’t really have the best of times in goal so with Foster being  signed West Brom have a top quality goalkeeper in their ranks.  This was the start of a signing spree has Steve Clarke then bought in the highly rated Belgian left winger Yassine El Ghanassy on loan from Gent.  This exciting young winger has all the traits that a winger should have; he is pacey and has superb dribbling skills enabling West Brom to add flare up front. Bringing El Ghanassy on loan enables Clarke to play around with formations to get the best offensive players in the squad, one such option is 4-3-3, this would enable Ghanassy to play left wing and allowing either Odemwingie or Long to play in the other two roles.

    

    Clarke’s next signing was a youthful Argentinean defensive midfielder named Claudio Yacob who was on the books of the likes of Manchester City and Barcelona. He joined on a free from Argentinean side Racing Club and is one of many prospects to have come out of Argentina. He has been capped for both the Argentina youth team and the national team so he is very talented. As a defensive midfielder he can control the area just in front of the defenders and fit alongside Mulumbu if Clarke sees fit.

     

    After the signing of Yacob, West Brom signed another forward, 29 year old Sweden international Markus Rosenberg was bought in on a free from Werder Bremen. A veteran in terms of age but he has the ability to be a worthwhile signing for the Baggies. A good finisher in and around the box and with the crossing abilities of Brunt and Dorrans, service for Rosenberg will be high and hopefully he can score the goals. Rosenberg has been around the block a bit – playing at FC Malmo, Halmstads BK, Ajax, Werder Bremen and Racing Santander – and is unproven in the Premier League but his ability cannot be doubted therefore I expect Rosenberg to adapt well to Premier League life.

     

    Steve Clarke continued to bolster his options and recently bought in – which could possibly be the signing of the summer – highly rated Romelu Lukaku on loan from Chelsea. Lukaku is a proven goal scorer who showed off his talents with Belgian giants RSC Anderlecht. However since his move to Chelsea he has had a lack of games which led to Lukaku asking to be loaned out to gain first team experience. Fulham were prime targets and a deal was apparently more or less done but news broke out on Friday 10th June that Lukaku had joined West Brom. A signing of this calibre really shows Clarke means business and helping improve on the quality that West Brom already have. Attacking options are at a high with Lukaku, Rosenberg, Odemwingie and Long all vying for a starting place in the first game of the 2012/13 Premier League season against Liverpool.

     

    Five top quality signings have been brought in by Clarke and I’m positive that there’s more to come. The squad that has now been bolstered massively can now challenge for a higher position in the Premier League. Clarke had said he wanted to “break 50pts” which would be enough for a 6th or 7th place finish. West Brom are improving all the while and finishing as the highest place Midlands club last season is surely a platform to improve on especially with the talent that has been bought in. Next season will be a good one for West Brom and I feel that we will be able to challenge all the way and improve on last season’s 10th place finish.