West Bromwich Albion have made a solitary transfer this window with the signing of Jake Livermore from Hull City for a handsome fee of £10m. The Baggies have surprised one and all this season with their adventurous approach and the balance they have struck in attack and defence has been encouraging for the fans as well.
Tony Pulis had made a reputation for being a slightly regressive manager in the sense that his focus was always on defence and the fact that he set up his teams not to concede before going for goals. He had strengthened this notion even more while at Stoke City where his physical and dreary brand of football became synonymous with Stoke City.
Even at West Brom, he took on a similar approach and despite the midtable comforts, the fans clearly were asking for more from their team. And since the start of the summer, it was apparent that Pulis was working actively to change the dynamics of their approach play. The signings of Matt Phillips, Nacer Chadli and the likes pointed to the shift in focus to make the team more attacking and result oriented.
And in what has been good news for the club, the ploy has seemed to work and Pulis has overseen West Brom’s ascent to the 8th position in the league. They are within touching distance of Everton, who have earned plaudits this season for their displays under Koeman. This reflects on the excellent work done by Pulis on a much tighter budget.
But they cannot be satisfied by this and Pulis will know, to maintain the momentum, he has to bolster his options especially in attack with Saido Berahino moving to the Bet365 Stadium. Pulis has Rondon up top with Robson-Kanu as his back-up.
Hence the reports linking West Brom with a late £12m move for Jay Rodriguez makes sense.
Rodriguez burst onto the scene in the 2012-13 season and caught everyone’s attention but it was the next year in which he showed that he belonged amongst the best. Scoring 15 goals and assisting a further 3, he was inevitably linked with a move to one of the big guns in the League.
But a horror injury saw his career screech to a halt and after 2 years, he is back in business once again. He can bring in a much-needed dynamism and individual quality to the Baggies, which is something they don’t possess with Rondon mostly feeding of crosses and depending on the supply presented to him.
With Southampton having agreed a fee for Manolo Gabbiadini, they might be open to selling Rodriguez if a reasonable bid comes along, which the Baggies will hope they have lodged.
