West Brom comment: Frustrating summer ends with damp squib
A fortnight ago Baggies boss Tony Pulis said he wanted to sign five new players for his squad.
When new chairman John Williams arrived he said there were funds available for 'two or three realistic targets'.
Since then, the club have brought in four new faces – a compromise.
But only one of them is the type of permanent marquee signing that supporters wanted to see.
Everton defender Brendan Galloway joined on loan before attacking midfielder Nacer Chadli signed for a club-record £13million.
Yesterday, right-back Allan Nyom arrived from Watford for £3million and the club snapped up free agent Hal Robson-Kanu. Galloway is a promising young full-back who has already impressed in his first two games for the club and Nyom will provide much-needed competition for Craig Dawson at right-back.
Both new full-backs are upgrades on Sebastien Pocognoli, who was sent on loan to Brighton, and Cristian Gamboa, sold to Celtic for a nominal fee, simply because Pulis will be willing to play them.
If Euro 2016 is anything to go by then Robson-Kanu is an upgrade on Rickie Lambert, who has looked woefully off the pace ever since he arrived from Liverpool for £3m last summer. Chadli is the stand-out purchase of the summer, and exactly what the Baggies need, a versatile attacking midfielder with an eye for goal who can play on the left wing or behind Salomon Rondon.
But even though the squad has been marginally improved this summer, deadline day was incredibly underwhelming.
There are huge doubts whether this business will be enough for Albion to improve on last season while every team around them has strengthened significantly.
The threadbare three-strong strike-force is the most worrying weakness. Rondon has started this season well, but Saido Berahino – who will now see out the remaining year of his contract – is a shadow of the player he used to be. Robson-Kanu may have bamboozled the Belgium defence with a cruyff-turn, but he's only scored 17 goals in 173 Championship games in his career.
He could yet prove himself, but his signing smacks of a decision taken as a last resort after all other avenues had failed. Albion desperately needed to bolster their front line this window and they failed to do that. Three strikers is not enough, even if you do only play one up front. The most disappointing aspect of a long, frustrating window is just what might have been.
The Baggies pulled the plug on a £16m deal for striker Diafra Sakho before he failed a medical, nearly had Leicester's Jeffrey Schlupp for £12m before Claudio Ranieri changed his mind, and then decided against spending £15m on Ignacio Camacho after agreeing a deal.
But there was plenty of time to identify suitable replacements.
Attracting players to the club was obviously a struggle, and so were negotiation talks.
"Some of the prices we are being quoted are quite frankly too high," explained Williams two weeks ago.
And that's the story of the summer. In an obscene market full of mouth-watering figures, Albion have stayed true to their pragmatic roots. Let's hope they don't live to regret it.
