'A marquee Championship deal': Jonny Drury & Lewis Cox on West Brom's signing of Adam Armstrong

Express & Star

Jonny Drury and Lewis Cox discussed Albion's late deadline day move for Adam Armstrong on the latest episode of the Baggies Broadcast. The prolific marksman who has bagged a goal every two games in the Championship in the last three seasons, has signed for the Baggies on loan from Southampton until the end of the season. The move has been described as a 'potential game changer' in Albion's season, and Lewis and Jonny discuss the impact it could have on Tony Mowbray's side.

Transcript

00:00That is the main headline talking point of Albion. It's not just deadline day, it's Albion

00:04window really. The fact that Adam Armstrong has come in. Tony Mowbray said a few weeks

00:08ago he wanted a striker who lives for scoring goals. I don't think there's anyone else better

00:16at the moment around who fits that bill. Adam Armstrong has scored a goal every two games

00:22in his last three championship seasons. He obviously loves Tony Mowbray because he's

00:26played for him before. He's scored a lot of goals for him before. And Albion have managed

00:30to get this deal done. A marquee deal, not just for Albion, I would say, but for the

00:36top teams in the championship. There'll be a lot in that play-off race. We'll be looking

00:39now at Albion thinking, wow, we've got our work cut out against Albion. What a signing.

00:45Hats off to Build Pult for getting it done. We've waxed lyrical about their business in

00:50the transfer market in the summer and in January. It was almost kind of a perfect way to finish

00:56the window. Maybe not on the time-ins, but certainly on the personnel that came in.

01:26It's a massive statement signing. You just touched on it there for rivals. It's a massive

01:36statement signing for the top end of the division. I think even the clubs around the top three

01:43positions who are out of sight, let's be honest, would sit up and take note of that. It's a

01:52coup, isn't it? I know from reports that rivals who were pushing hard for strikers

01:58weren't they? The likes of Sunderland, certainly Middlesbrough. Suggestions that were priced

02:03out of this loan, which won't have come cheap. I'm sure, from what I understand, Armstrong's

02:11salary is pretty hefty at St Mary's and it would be a fair contribution. Albion will

02:16be footing. I've seen reports down on the south coast, which I haven't had a chance

02:21to check out yet. There'll be a loan fee involved, which I would expect as well.

02:25Certainly, into the afternoon of deadline day, it wasn't expected to be one that Albion would

02:30be able to do financially. The night went, didn't it? We all know how the night of Monday,

02:38the 3rd of Feb, 2025 went. Basically, Adam Armstrong became quote-unquote available,

02:45but maybe more viable for Albion in terms of making the finances work. Then it was a scramble,

02:53and then it was submitted on time, and then it was in the hands of the AFL. We all love

02:59them and how that's gone this morning, don't we? Because they seem to have gone through their list

03:04alphabetically, which we were all kind of joking about, but actually seems to be how it happened,

03:09which is phenomenal, really. But we got there in the end, didn't we? The bottom line is it's

03:14a statement, it's a coup, it's something that Mowbray's made happen. I'm pretty confident in

03:21saying it wouldn't have happened otherwise. That's just looking back at the pair's relationship.

03:29Mowbray's been in the building, what, a few weeks, a couple of weeks,

03:33and he said he's come in promising, attacking football again, goals, shots, chances. Who

03:40better in this division to have in the 18-yard box, in the six-yard box, to finally turn some

03:46of these home? To get someone of this calibre in so late in the window, as late as it was,

03:51is not ideal, but to get someone in, like say, of Armstrong's calibre. I think Mowbray's asked

03:59to go to Bilko, not just for the whole window, but for that deal at the end. We've read,

04:04Cocktagu, you referenced it there, I've seen reports on the south coast that Albion are

04:08footing the majority of Armstrong's salary, as you said, and a loan fee,

04:12and they wouldn't be doing this deal if it wasn't kind of viable, and we've heard all about PSR and

04:16FFP coming down the line, but it's a deal they were able to do, which brings even more comfort

04:23that Albion are in a good or a better position than maybe some of us thought. You referenced

04:30the other attackers, and I just want to move on to that as we move on the Transwindow chat,

04:36because we've got a lot of questions that have come in. We've talked for the last couple of

04:41years where Albion have basically played with one striker at times, they've played with no striker,

04:46now we're in a position where we're coming out of a window into a really pivotal part of the season.

04:51You've got the Championships, one of the Championships' most potent marksmen from

04:54the last few years, in the side till the end of the season. A very highly rated youngster

04:59in Will Lancashire, who's going to be in and amongst it. You've got Josh Madger coming back

05:04to form, who has been at times one of the most informed players in the Championship this season,

05:09and on the back of that you've got Daryl Dekay, who is obviously a threat. His fitness issues,

05:17we've just got to wait and see on that one, but Albion haven't been in this stronger position

05:23with this kind of front line probably since the Gael and Rodriguez years. They didn't really have

05:30potent strikers under Slavin Bilic when they went up, that was a lot of fantastic creative

05:35midfield. This is the strongest position Albion have been for years in terms of strikers in the

05:41Championship. I just think it's not the guarantee that they're going to get into the playoffs or

05:49even go up, but they're in such a strong position. My point is the contrast from recent years to now

05:56in terms of what they are going to have in the coming months,

06:01and it's all been completed by this signing of Armstrong.

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