Werder Bremen are keen on cutting short Yuning Zhang’s two-year loan from West Bromwich Albion in the summer as he is yet to break into their senior squad. According to recent reports, the Baggies youngster is set for a return to the Hawthorns just an year after he went out on a two-year loan spell to the Bundesliga club.
The West Midlands outfit signed the 21-year-old Chinese forward from Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem last summer due to commercial reasons and immediately loaned him out to the German side Werder Bremen for two years. However, Zhang has not been able to break into Bremen’s first-team this season and due to German employment rules, the youngster cannot feature for their under-23 side.
In a recent interview with the German press, Bremen Sporting Director Frank Baumann was quoted to have said: “We’re trying to find a solution that Yuning plays in the U23s, so if that does not work, we’ll have to deal with other options.
“Yuning has not played for a whole year, so another season would make little sense.”
The Bundesliga outfit initially had a two-year loan agreement with the Baggies last summer so Alan Pardew’s side would now have to approve any decision to cut short the temporary agreement.
Zhang penned a three-year deal with the West Midlands outfit but cannot feature in either the Premier League or the Skybet Championship as he was unable to get a work permit while China are ranked outside the top 50 countries in the world. His nation are currently ranked 68th in the world. It is believed that the Baggies will accept Bremen’s request and bring back Zhang before making another attempt to find a different club in Europe for him to sign on a temporary basis next summer.
West Brom are currently struggling in the Premier League and find themselves rock bottom of the league in 20th place with just 9 league games remaining in this campaign. The Baggies are in dire need of some favourable results in the coming weeks after another loss away at Watford on Saturday. It seems highly likely that Alan Pardew’s side will get relegated this season as they are currently 8 points from safety.
The potential recall of Zhang is only expected to be a temporary one as he will be ineligible to play for the Baggies next season. It seems like the signing of the Chinese forward was more of a knee-jerk reaction from West Brom to tap into the Chinese market and commercially become more viable. However, they are now in a precarious position with the striker’s ineligibility so it looks highly likely that they will have to part ways with him after his three-year contract runs out. Until then, further loan spells look set to be on the cards.
It remains to be seen what lies ahead in the future of Zhang and whether he ends up playing for the Baggies in the near future.
