Window shopping
If we are talking about West Brom and January transfers, then we’ll be talking a lot about Shane Long’s exit.
Because, truthfully, there wasn’t much else going on around The Hawthorns – save for some Pepe Mel discussion and some consternation over the state of the pitch around Albion.
Yes, management at West Brom was notoriously inactive during this window. And seeing as West Brom sit a single point above the relegation red line going into the meat of February matches, that surely will not be lost on Baggies supporters if Mel and men cannot escape the scourge of the drop.
Not that this is so unusual; the January win came and went a year ago with little action for the Baggies, despite clear need for a player or two.
So, let’s talk about Shane Long … well, and a little bit about not getting that left back they probably needed:
Players In
None.
Players Out
Shane Long (Hull, $11.4 million), Lee Camp (Bournemouth, free), George Thorne (loan to Derby).
Grade: D-
It’s a D- rather than an outright F because the Baggies did get some money for Long. The Irishman was always bound to leave, wasn’t he? He came so close to putting the Hawthorns in his rear view mirror last summer, only to see that relocation into Hull collapse at the 11th hour.
With six months to go before he could leave on a free transfer, the Baggies more or less had to move him. When the offer came in over $10 million, there really wasn’t any choice.
Now, should management have done more with that money? Of course. Reinforcements anywhere around the ground would have helped, but the gaping hole was at left back, where neither Liam Ridgewell nor Goran Popov have proven capable of holding serve consistently.
