Ron Gourlay: Departures will be followed by more West Brom arrivals
Ron Gourlay says Albion are far from done in the transfer market – with the chief executive confirming there will be more additions and departures.
The Baggies have already landed two of their key targets after bringing in John Swift and Jed Wallace on free transfers.
Gourlay believes Swift and Wallace were the best players in the Championship last season alongside Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovic.
He says as things stand, the focus is on getting a few players out the door in order to balance the squad and lower the wage bill.
But he says once those players are gone, there will be more additions.
“For me, the top three players in the Championship last season were Mitrovic, John Swift and Jed Wallace,” Gourlay said.
“We’ve been able to go and get two of them before anybody started to make their move. That was critical.
“From the point of view of planning, behind the scenes, we’ve executed that plan well.
“Now we’re in the process of the next stage. One or two players more will go.
“(Sam) Johnstone, (Andy) Carroll, big Clarkey (Matt Clarke), (Robert) Snodgrass went during the period.
“We’re just coming into July now, and I made it clear that there’ll be seven or eight players leaving the club this summer.
“There’ll be a few more acquisitions coming in as well.”
While Gourlay revealed manager Steve Bruce is eager for more signings, he says the boss understands a big part of his job is getting players who underperformed last season firing again.
“Steve’s like any manager – every time you deliver one, he wants another,” Gourlay joked.
But he understands the circumstances around the club.
“We have some very good players who just didn’t perform.
“We need to put the fire back in the belly. It’s all about reigniting the best bits.
“The process we’re going through at the moment is the rebalancing of the squad.
“We had too many defenders, not enough creative players.
“We wanted to put some creativity in there. (Jayson) Molumby had a good second half of the season, he’s one for the future that we took on a permanent as well.
“There’ll be probably two or three more coming in after that.
“Defensively we’re fine. You’re looking at midfielders and forwards, really.
“But Steve is having a very close look at (Ken) Zohore.
“This is the first time he’s been since I’ve been at the club. He’s having a look at him.
“The manager was impressed with the condition of all the players when they came back.”
