West Brom’s season is currently on hold with the world of football on a fixture suspension until the next month at the very least.
If the season resumes anytime soon, then the Baggies have a very good chance of clinching promotion as they sit six points adrift from the playoff positions.
This week they have been handed a massive boost in the form of signing Croatian playmaker Filip Krovinovic on a permanent basis at the end of the season.
According to A Bola, via Sport Witness, the 24-year-old’s parent club Benfica are willing to let the midfielder go for a minimum of €10m (£9m) this summer with the player being able to decide where his future lies, and given he’s reportedly happy at the Hawthorns, he could quite possibly be open to a return.
But would it be a wise move to make? Here’s what our writers think…
Charles Jones
“I think that West Brom should certainly be pondering the prospect of signing Filip Krovinovic, but whether or not they do is another matter completely.
“€10m (£9m) is a snip these days, especially for a Premier League outfit, but it all depends where the Baggies are playing their football next term.
“Krovinovic hasn’t exactly lit up the Championship in the same way some of the Baggies other loanees have such as Grady Diangana and Matheus Pereira, but he’s proven to be a handy player who can do a job.
“The West Brom go up they’ll have money to burn, and signing Krovinovic would be a wise move, but that sort of money is what you’d spend on a marquee signing in the Championship, and Krovinovic isn’t that.”
Billy Meyers
“For such a significant sum of money, Bilic should avoid this one. While Krovinovic has certainly shown flashes of his quality, two goals and two assists are nothing to write home about – if that’s what he’s recording in the Championship, one imagines that he’ll struggle to set the world alight in the Premier League should West Brom go up.
“Furthermore, Bilic already has a star performer in Matheus Pereira to play in that role, a man who has shone with six goals and an eye-catching 12 assists in the Championship this season – in that respect, signing a man who is effectively worse than Pereira wouldn’t make sense at all.
“The Baggies don’t really need to do this move, and they’d be weakening their funds in other departments by pursuing it. Bilic could do with reinforcements at right-back where Nathan Ferguson’s contract expires this summer, while another striker to replace Charlie Austin wouldn’t go amiss – the former QPR man is now in this thirties, while ageing figures like Chris Brunt and Gareth Barry could also do with fresher replacements.”
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Matt Dawson
“Luke Dowling needs to tread carefully here. Only last summer he forked out £4m on Charlie Austin and even more concerningly, spent £8m on Kenneth Zohore. The latter has scored just three times all campaign which shows just how wrongly the Baggies can get things in the market. Can you trust the hierarchy if they go up to spend their vast riches assuringly? I’m not so sure.
“That should be a major warning to Dowling over Krovinovic. The Croat may have arrived with a reputation of being compared to Kevin de Bruyne when he joined on loan but hasn’t met those expectations at all. The attacking midfielder has just two goals and two assists all term and has spent a fair portion of the campaign on the bench, appearing 11 times from that role.
“With those statistics in mind, it’s difficult to see him adapting to the Premier League. He still needs time to develop and only if Albion remain in England’s second tier, should they bring Krovinovic in on a permanent basis.”
Lewis Blain
“For me, this deal is simply a no-brainer. The Baggies should absolutely be playing in the Premier League next term, regardless of whether or not football action resumes anytime soon. Krovinovic would be the perfect fit in the top-flight as he’ll be gifted more time on the ball in the engine room and will offer a better option to Romaine Sawyers, who is hugely lacking experience at an elite level at the age of 28. Three successive games of at least four key passes back in February only show his potential, and whilst his form has tailed off slightly in recent matches, he’d still be an excellent option to have – maybe the next Zoltan Gera.”
Are you a Championship expert? How much did each of these big-money signings cost?
And in other news, West Brom may be impacted if Championship goes to July…
