00:00Charlie, finally on to West Bromwich Abbey and now obviously we've mentioned a few sort
00:04of contract situations that were going on and how important it was to secure those.
00:09Is there any sort of progress with some of their key players from last season and what
00:14can you tell us on the transfer front so far in this window for Carlos Corbijn's side?
00:19Yes, so new contracts have been signed by the key players you mentioned. Karl Bartley
00:25being one of those, he's centre back, he's spent six years at the Hawthorn so far, well
00:29into his 30s now but still very capable as we saw at the end of last season. He's carrying
00:34on for another year and potentially another 12 months after that if he reaches enough
00:38appearances in an Albion shirt. Still waiting on fellow centre back Cedric Kiprae and what's
00:44going to happen with him. There's a lot of interest, especially from Turkey, essentially
00:48the bottom of the Premier League as well for him. Probably West Brom's best player last
00:53season so that's understandable but a decent contract offer is on the table, it's just
00:56awaiting if he's going to be signing that one or not. Alex Mowat, the central midfielder
01:01who Corbijn used in that number 8 position last season, ahead of Jason Malumby and then
01:06Malumby got injured which helped Mowat solidify that even more. Interest for him at the top
01:10of the Championship and bottom of the Premier League as well but he has decided to stay
01:13at the Hawthorns for at least another two years. So two massive bonuses there I think
01:18to keep the current crop in. I think the Kiprae one though is a very nervous wait.
01:23Where are Albion looking to get their players from? You mentioned there that clubs at the
01:29bottom of the Premier League and top of the Championships are going to be looking at sometimes
01:33due to the fees and money they can spend, clubs around that mid-table in the Championships.
01:39So where does Albion look? Because there's a lot of difference between signing a Championship
01:44player or a Premier League player who might have got relegated for example. How important
01:49is it that you get these players that can offer that experience and the talent as well?
01:54Well I think it's going to have to look abroad and be a bit more outside the box. They've
01:58already signed a Malian central midfielder on a free transfer and then it looks in Scandinavia
02:03as well set to sign a young centre-back from there who's got the height he can pass out
02:07from the back. So that's some shrewd business from them. It's just trying to continue that
02:11run, make the most of that free agents market. Now that contracts have officially expired
02:15there are going to be so many players available that people might not have heard of. It's
02:19just trying to find those gems again in the market that are hidden and continue on from
02:24there. Because West Brom don't have the money to spend, they're going to have to be clever.
02:28And finally on them and their pre-season plans, what's it looking like? Because we've discussed
02:33how important it is that Coburn side sort of continue their consistency that they had
02:39at times of the season and hopefully find themselves ending up near the play-off places.
02:44They've got quite a few games coming up in pre-season. They've already reported back
02:47to full training. West Brom against Bolton is the first one and then the game against
02:52Peterborough to get either 60, 70, 80 minutes maybe for Coburn to figure out who exactly
02:57he wants to start on that opening day of the season.
Comments