West Brom have been linked with this 19-year-old AC Milan attacker ahead of the January transfer deadline.
There’s little over 48 hours of the January transfer window left, and West Brom are yet to much business, with Andi Weimann and Callum Marshall being the only arrivals so far.
They’re not the only ones in the Championship who’ve been quiet, but they are certainly in need of bodies with the first-team squad at The Hawthorns looking quite thin on the ground.
Attacking additions looks like the priority, as it has been for a while now, with injuries to the likes of Josh Maja, Matt Phillips, and a minor knock to Daryl Dike just after he made his return to action.
But there’s a new name on the Baggies’ radar; AC Milan’s Chaka Traore.
West Brom fancy Chaka Traore loan swoop
Italian football journalist Luca Bianchin, who writes for La Gazzetta dello Sport, has revealed on X that Traore has been told he can leave the San Siro on loan for the remainder of the campaign.
Bianchin adds that Swiss outfit Lausanne along with West Brom are both keen on the potential signing.
Traore is a product of the Parma youth academy but joined AC Milan in 2021.
He made his Serie A debut earlier this season and he’s since featured twice in the Italian top flight, scoring once as a late substitute vs Empoli at the start of this month.
Traore is a left-winger by trade.
Traore could ease Matt Phillips blow and take strain off Jed Wallace
Phillips’ injury earlier in the season was a real blow for Carlos Corberan who was getting the best out of the Scot.
And in Phillips’ absence, there’s now a lot of pressure on Jed Wallace to not only provide the goods but to stay fit; an injury to him would really give Corberan a headache, especially after losing Jeremy Sarmiento earlier in the month.
So a winger in the last days of the window would be very useful and Traore looks like a player with bags of potential.
He lacks first-team experience and so Milan seem keen to loan him out, and there’d no doubt be question marks over whether or not he could hit the ground running at West Brom.
But he’s clearly held in high regards and his recent burst onto the scene at Milan has been impressive, with his goal against Empoli leaving him with a good record at the start of his first-team venture with the Italian giants.
England may be a preferrable destination for the player than Switzerland and a top-six chasing side like West Brom would surely be an attractive option.
This is an exciting link for the Baggies, who desperately need a player or two before February 1st.