Who will lead the line for West Brom this season?

Express & Star

Lewis Cox and Jonny Drury sat down to discuss West Brom's strikers. Albion currently have three fit senior strikers in the squad in the form of Josh Maja, Brandon Thomas-Asante and Karlan Grant. Daryl Dike remains on the treatment table after his latest big injury - and Lewis looks at who will be the main man and what Carlos Corberan may do in the transfer market.

Transcript

00:00Coxy, striking options are what all the fans always look at, and we'll be looking at this

00:13summer with Albion. Obviously, Daryl Deke is still on the treatment table. We suspect

00:17Carlin Grant's going to go out on loan. That leaves Josh Madger, Brandon Thomas, Sassante

00:22in the squad. Do you think, come the start of the season, will the main striking burden

00:29fall on those two players, or will Albion be looking to make a statement signing or

00:36bringing in another number one, number nine, so to speak?

00:41Yeah, it will be interesting to see when we get to put it to Carlos, actually, when we

00:45first see him in this pre-season and get a chance to interview him, just where Deke is

00:50exactly and whether, if you think about, I want four strikers in my squad for the season.

00:57Whether Deke is factored and included in one of those, to add to Thomas Sassante and Madger.

01:01Now, I think projections were the end of 2024, weren't they, sort of December time. If he

01:07beats that and we're looking at November, ironically, the kind of time he's returned

01:11from injury before, then great. I don't think November, December is too late for Deke to

01:20be factored in as a part of the squad, a number in the attacking options. I do think it's

01:25naive to expect he'll come back, hit the ground running and be fine. Two ruptured achilles

01:31and injuries before that, it's going to be tough, even when he's fit enough to deem to

01:36train and stuff. So, Deke aside, situation aside, but say he is factored, obviously it's

01:41three. I expect Albion to be in the market for a fourth, I really do. I'd be amazed if

01:46not. We know Josh Madger's situation arrived this time last year, debut season basically

01:52ruined really by a couple of injuries that obviously weren't his fault and obviously

01:57sort of omitted from the playoffs, quite oddly, at the end of last campaign and then Thomas

02:02Sassante. So, I see another arriving, I think that's pretty clear. It goes, it remains to

02:11be seen whether that's on a permanent or a loan basis. I think everything perhaps points

02:15to a loan, I would say, finances and so on. I think Albion need to be careful they don't

02:22repeat a Callum Marshall mistake, basically. It's easy to say that, isn't it? And maybe

02:28the Marshall deal was low cost, low risk, opportunistic, I get all of that. His record

02:32was frightening at under 21 level, absolutely. And he could have come into this first loan

02:36and been a revelation, but I think if you're putting it all under a one striker recruit

02:44again this summer, and I get it, Madger feels like a new sign, but then it needs to be someone

02:48of a bit of calibre, even if it's a loan. Someone who's a little bit older maybe than

02:52an 18-year-old, had a loan before and done okay. There are examples, aren't there? Speaking

02:57to someone the other day, not related to Albion, but about the boy Stansfield, the Blues had

03:04last season, was it from Fulham? Did really well. Someone who's had loans in the league,

03:09done really well, that can be ready to really compete with Thomas Sassante, Madger and then

03:15hopefully DK, because I just don't want to see, and I don't think it's remotely fair,

03:19another season of Thomas Sassante being flogged every game and all of the burden being on

03:23him. If Madger struggles again, fitness availability, injury, and then it becomes a problem, doesn't

03:29it? If the one recruit doesn't happen. There could be a world, there could be a conversation

03:34where Albion are looking to bring in more than one striker. I'd be a little surprised

03:39given how tight the financial situation is, but could be the case. I suppose it remains

03:44to be seen what Carlos Corbijn tells us later this summer. In an ideal world, Madger can

03:51settle, DK returns okay and can become a regular, and the at least one striker that comes in

03:59to aid Sassante and Madger can hit the ground running and become a regular feature and find

04:06the net for Albion.

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