West Brom have offloaded Taylor Gardner-Hickman, with the 22-year-old now joining Bristol City on a permanent deal.
West Brom loaned Gardner-Hickman to Championship rivals Bristol City last summer, in a move that raised a few eyebrows.
The versatile midfielder featured 31 times in the Championship last season and looked as though he could’ve played a key role under Carlos Corberan this time round.
But after impressing in 23 Championship outings for Bristol City, scoring one and assisting two more, the Robins have made his deal permanent.
And whilst it’s a blow for Corberan to see a talented youngster leave, Gardner-Hickman’s exit might well be good news for the club.
Taylor Gardner-Hickman funds to ‘assist’ West Brom takeover
Posting on X last night, Express & Star journalist Lewis Cox revealed that the funds raised from Gardner-Hickman’s sale will ‘go into the club to assist cashflow’ during this ongoing takeover process.
Cox posted:
West Brom appear to have a referred bidder; Shilen Patel.
The American businessman is one of three credible bidders that owner Guochuan Lai is currently mulling over, with reports suggesting that a West Brom takeover is moving along at a steady pace.
Guochuan Lai pinning everything on West Brom takeover
Lai appears to be doing everything within his power to make this takeover go through, and the above news from Cox that Gardner-Hickman’s transfer funds will go towards cashflow is positive.
Obviously, in an ideal world, Corberan would be given the Gardner-Hickman funds, and he’d be able to bring in one or two new faces with the money.
But right now, the priority for West Brom remains the takeover and everything seems to be pointing in the right direction for the time being.
Still, selling Gardner-Hickman and having to bring in older, perhaps less attractive players like Andi Weimann is certainly a sign of the times for West Brom.
But Corberan has a knack of getting the best out of players who are maybe the other side of 30 or who have struggled in the past; Kyle Bartley being a prime example.
The fans have faith on what’s going on on the pitch and soon they might have faith in the process off the pitch too.
Up next for the Baggies is a trip to Norwich City in the Championship this weekend; the Canaries sit in 11th place of the table compared to West Brom in 5th, and won 2-1 away at Hull City in their last outing to end a run of four games without one.