West Brom set for talks over deal for Scott Allan
Saturday 31st December 2011, 10:00AM GMT.
Albion have had a loan bid for USA defender Tim Ream knocked back – but Scottish youngster Scott Allan is due to discuss personal terms next week.
Allan will meet boss Roy Hodgson next Friday when he travels to the West Midlands to negotiate terms on a £400,000 switch from Dundee United.
But the Baggies’ hopes of signing Ream on a short-term loan have been hit by New York Red Bulls’ insistence they will only consider a permanent sale for the 24-year-old.
Albion hope Allan, aged 20, will choose them over Rangers and Celtic.
Hodgson said: “He is a very interesting player who we have followed for a long time and we’re making every effort to persuade him to come to the club.
“I believe a fee has been agreed. I know he is coming down here and I believe I will meet him on the Friday before the Cardiff game.
“He would be a player not just to help us out in the next four or five months, but a player in the next few years that we feel will be very big for the club.”
Hodgson said of Ream: “He is not available on loan, I don’t think. The news we have from Red Bulls is that they want to sell him if they’re going to let him go.
“We would still have to go through the process of getting a work permit because he has only played twice or three times for the American national team.”
And Hodgson played down Albion’s hopes of landing Nikica Jelavic, despite a admitting to a midweek scouting trip to see the Croatia striker play for Rangers.
“I don’t know that our name would be at the top of the list of potential candidates for him,” said Hodgson.
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