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Ian Pearce and Tony Mowbray working 'till late' as West Brom pursue striker transfer

Tony Mowbray
-Credit:Getty Images


He might only be through the doors of West Bromwich Albion, and is still having to get to know his new players on first-name terms, but Tony Mowbray is already working with the club's hierarchy to help identify a centre forward who fits the bill for the club before the transfer window deadline passes.

Albion, who have recruited Isaac Price from Standard Liege this week, have a little over a week remaining of the January window and are keenly pursuing a new striker to help bolster the front-line options currently available to Mowbray, who has inherited the squad which is currently without injured pair Josh Maja and Daryl Dike.

Indeed the only existing and available forward option is Devante Cole, who has started just once this season - that was all the way back in the first round of the EFL Cup, a narrow defeat to League Two Fleetwood Town, on a night when he claimed an assist for Mo Faal's goal. Albion are exploring various avenues.

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Mowbray and director of football operations Ian Pearce have been watching clips of players from abroad, but Mowbray is also very open to the idea of working with young Premier League players on loan, as he has done frequently in the recent past with his former employers.

"I know the club have been working hard in the background trying to add. That continues," he said. "I sat with Ian till pretty late last night watching players from across Europe. There are one or two issues as to why you can or can't get certain players in, how eligible they are, but generally the club are working hard and trying to help.

"Hopefully in the next two weeks we'll add a player who lives for goals. Who is the best in the world at scoring goals? Erling Haaland, some games he has ten touches but scores three goals. We need to have players on the pitch who can supply a player who wants to score, who is always in the six-yard box and demands the winger puts the ball in.

"They're not easy to find. Every club wants a goalscorer. Hopefully we can work with the ones we've got. Every club does recruitment slightly differently but it's driven by data - scouts would cover as much ground as they could, but now you have Wyscout and look at any player in the world.

"The data points to the player you should be looking at, that you can afford. Then you can send your scouts to watch them live. Do they have personality? Your eyes play a crucial part in every signing. A week into the job, I haven't started stamping my feet saying I want to take charge. I'm happy to learn as much as possible about this group of players and what makes them tick."

Albion are estimated to have parted with around £2.5m to bring Northern Ireland international Price back to the UK, having not routinely been in a position to spend money in recent windows because of limitations inflicted by PSR, but they have recouped cash from the departure of Carlos Corberan, as well as sales in the summer which helped to reduce the wage-bill.

"I'm not overly anxious about things like that," Mowbray continued. "The time to concern yourselves over growing and to give yourselves a chance would be in the summer. In this window...I just want to work with what I've got, however if they wanted to add a few I can work with that group too. I don't sit here knowing that we need another right-back or another central midfielder.

"Sometimes players are dead and buried at a football club and a new coach comes along, quite likes him, gives him some confidence and suddenly he scores a goal and is off and flying. I have to use my powers to make this team believe in themselves so we can flourish. Some fall by the wayside but some want to come on the journey.

"Let's see - with two weeks of the window to go, it'd be wrong for me to start demanding that so and so comes in and I want this. I'm happy that they've all been working very hard in the recruitment department. I do wander in there and see their boards full of names in different colours. They're doing the job, so I'll let them get on with it and then when the summer comes around, I'll have my feet under the table."

How many more signings do Albion need this month? Tell us HERE