What are Baggies’ hopes for promotion this season?
So that was that. In the end, almost a decade’s worth of Premier League football has been extinguished just like a weakening flame. No longer a top flight team, and with the unmentionables down the road taking our place, this has been a summer of great upset for us long-suffering Baggies. Jonny Evans has left for Leicester City for just £3.5 million. Forward Salomon Rondon has a relegation release clause of just £16.5m and won’t be short of potential suitors. And Daniel Sturridge, who was signed in a loan deal from Liverpool during the January transfer window, has come and gone, having made only six appearances in the league.
And yet, it’s not all doom and gloom. The Baggies are, according to the odds on BetStars, considered to have a strong chance at promotion this season. As Albion are preparing for their first season back in the second tier in eight years after finishing bottom of the Premier League, our boss, Darren Moore, has been charged with leading the club into their push for promotion. And this is no bad thing, given the way they finished last season.
Therefore, thoughts instead turn to recruitment on the pitch. It would appear that the deadline to make Ali Gabr’s loan move to The Hawthorns a permanent one has passed without activation, and he has instead signed with The Pyramids in his homeland. But, given that the Egyptian didn’t make a single appearance last season, this shouldn’t worry too many. Claudio Yacob, James Morrison, Boaz Myhill, Gareth Barry and Gareth McAuley have all left with their contracts expired, although Chris Brunt has put pen to paper, meaning that he will be with the club for another year.
Darren Moore is, by all accounts, looking to bring in Newcastle winger Rolando Aarons to add to our attacking options. Aarons, 22, is an England U20 international who has been featuring in Newcastle’s first team since 2014, and he is thought to be the perfect addition to add pace up the channels. Another potential new wingman might be 30-year-old Netherlands international Jeremain Lens, who is already unsettled in Turkey only a month after signing for Besiktas Istanbul from Sunderland.
With Ben Foster moving on to Watford, a goalkeeper is very much required—and the most credible name put forward from club sources so far has been Canadian Milan Borjan. The 30-year-old Red Star Belgrade goalkeeper, who has 38 caps for his country, is reportedly keen to play at the Hawthorns come August. Sadly, all talk of a move for Argentina international Wilmar Barrios has died down of late, with the player now looking likely to stay with Boca Juniors.
The main point to take home from all of the above is that the club look unlikely to hold with what they have, which is a good thing, considering that the squad is looking rather threadbare at the moment. But with their Premiership relegation parachute payment and a shortlist of potential new signings of considerable quality, there is every chance we could pass by Wolves on the back up next summer. Well, we can all dream, can’t we?