Tony Pulis: Oliver Burke has tools to play several positions

The powerful 20-year-old has joined from RB Leipzig on a five-year contract in a deal totalling £15million.

Although Pulis has urged Baggies fans to be patient with the youngster, he's excited about his new winger's abilities.

“Burke can play anywhere," said Pulis. "He can play 11, seven, or even as a nine up front.

“He’s a goalscorer too. That’s something we like about him. His goal record is good."

Pulis swooped for Burke at the start of the week and secured his signature ahead of former club Crystal Palace, who were also interested.

But as the head coach explained, he had been watching Burke for some time. The Baggies were interested last summer when Nottingham Forest sold their academy star to RB Leipzig, the highest bidder who offered £13m.

This summer, Pulis first spoke to Leipzig sporting director Ralf Rangnick at the Premier League Asia Trophy in pre-season.

“I spoke to Ralf when we were in Hong Kong, that’s how far ago it started," revealed Pulis. “It takes time to get everything in place and I didn’t know whether there were other clubs involved or not.

“I had a good chat with Ralf, who is the main man at Leipzig, and went through everything - what the expected on figures and what he thought about the lad.

“Ralf is a very honest, genuine person. Then I spoke to him again and texted him and we were looking at how we could do the deal and how we couldn’t do the deal.

“And it’s gradually got closer to the point where we said we’d do it and the kid said he wanted to come to us."

Pulis dismissed the suggestion that he gazumped Palace, saying history proves he puts an awful lot of thought into his signings.

The Baggies boss has chased former targets like Matt Phillips and Jay Rodriguez for several windows before completing deals.

“If you look at the players that I sign, you will see that behind the date they sign there was a lot of stuff going on," he said.

Burke only started five Bundesliga games last season, and struggled to keep up with their high-pressing game, but when Pulis was asked what Rangnick had told him, he said: “Burke has enormous potential. The potential is there for him to be a top, top player.

“He was in the Toulon Tournament this year and did exceptionally well.

“He thinks the talent is there. Clearly being away from home at such a young age is a great experience for him.

“We’re hoping coming back and being so close to his original home means he will settle in and be a great acquisition.

“But he’s still only a young lad. We have bought potential, we haven’t bought the end product. That will come hopefully."