West Bromwich Albion are in the market for a central midfielder this month and have been linked with Okay Yokuslu, William Carvalho, Olivier Ntcham, Ozan Tufan, Clement Grenier, Hamza Choudhury, and Ben Pearson.

However, it seems that their pursuit of the aforementioned Leicester midfielder is bound to be a fruitless one, as Joseph Masi of the Express and Star told the Baggies Broadcast podcast (via HITC) that Choudhury is “financially beyond Albion”, however.

He said: “(On) Choudhury, it’s gone very quiet. My understanding is that Albion were really hopeful on a deal (and) really wanted him, but it sounds like the goalposts have been moved. At this moment in time, it appears that financially that deal is beyond Albion.”

There’s little over a week remaining of the January transfer window and Sam Allardyce has only managed to bring in one outfield player – Robert Snodgrass from West Ham United. It’s not looking good for the cash-strapped Baggies in terms of potential incomings.

Choudhury seemed to be attainable too, amassing only 70 minutes of Premier League football for third-placed Leicester City this season, but it appears that he will remain in the Foxes squad for the rest of the campaign.

Although he is behind Wilfred Ndidi, Nampalys Mendy, Dennis Praet, Daniel Amartey and Youri Tielemans in the pecking order, Choudhury has at least made the matchday squad in the majority of Leicester’s Premier League outings as they battle Manchester City and Manchester United for the title.

READ WEST BROM VERDICT

The Baggies are 19th in the Premier League for average possession (41.5%) and pass completion (74.5%) per game (WhoScored), so they desperately need someone adept at turning over possession who can also keep the ball under pressure.

That makes it all the more disappointing to be effectively ruled out of the race for the Foxes midfielder, who has recorded an 80.2% pass completion rate from his appearances this season.