West Brom may yet spend some money in January if they can get a takeover over the line early on, and there’s a few players apparently of interest.
All the talk among West Brom fans right now is the situation regarding a takeover.
The Baggies’ finances are running low and a takeover is needed in 2024, and recent claims suggest that progress is being made on that front.
Though with January just around the corner, takeover speculation has collided with transfer speculation, with West Brom having been linked with their fair share of potential signings ahead of the New Year.
One such player being linked with a move to The Hawthorns is Peterborough United and Ghana winger Kwame Poku.
Who is Kwame Poku?
Poku, 22, currently plays for League One side Peterborough United and the Ghana national team.
The winger made his way through the non-league before getting his breakthrough with Colchester United, later signing for Peterborough in 2021.
Last season he burst into life scoring five and assisting eight in 39 League One outings, but this campaign has seen him take his game to another level.
So far this season, Poku has scored seven and assisted six more in 18 league appearances.
Last month, reports revealed that Bristol City, Ipswich Town, Millwall, Stoke City, Sunderland, and West Brom are all monitoring Poku ahead of January.
Nancy Froston discusses the transfer ‘caveat’ for West Brom
Peterborough United have produced and sold on some talented players in recent years; Ivan Toney is the first that springs to mind, with Siriki Dembele and the current Championship top scorer Sammie Szmodics two more to have netted Posh a decent transfer fee.
And that’s exactly where this ‘caveat’ lies.
Posh don’t sell their players on the cheap with chairman Darragh MacAnthony and Director of Football Barry Fry known to be tough, but effective negotiators.
Speaking on The Real EFL podcast, The Athletic journalist Nancy Froston had this to say on Poku’s Peterborough United future:
“I think with a club like Peterborough there’s always a chance, but it comes with a caveat of it having to be the right price for [chairman] Darragh MacAnthony. I think we’ve probably seen, over the years there are times where a club will just come in and they’ll put that offer on the table like Brentford with Ivan Toney, and there are other times where a club won’t pay maybe what he wants to get that return. They’ve historically had quite good recruitment in that sense and they’ve been able to make a fair amount of profit off players.”
For the Baggies then, Poku now seems like a distant transfer target.
Although it’s said that the ongoing takeover speculation won’t effect their January budget, that budget never seemed likely to be very big, and unless the club has a huge player sale, a move for Poku seems unlikely.
Peterborough seem likely to command at least a couple of million pounds for Poku.
And with so many teams interested it makes it harder, especially when the other teams linked have money to spend; at least more than West Brom, it appears.
But Poku remains a talented player and a good potential purchase for West Brom.
He’d add some much-needed youth to an ageing West Brom side, with his versatility in attack bound to be something that Carlos Corberan would make the most of.
For now though, Poku seems like an ambitious transfer target for West Brom who have much bigger issues to attend to.