Alan Pardew: West Brom new boy Daniel Sturridge is in same category as Tottenham's Harry Kane

Sturridge arrived on loan from Liverpool late last night and will be at The Hawthorns until the end of the season.

Pardew wanted to make a 'statement' signing up front in order to boost Albion's goal threat, and was able to persuade the England international to join the Baggies over a host of other clubs.

The 28-year-old has been dogged with injury problems recently, but back in November 2016 Sturridge was picked ahead of Kane for the 3-0 victory over Scotland and scored the opening goal.

Kane has won the last two Premier League golden boot awards and is leading the scoring charts in the top tier this season.

But Pardew reckons Sturridge has the potential to be just as good as the Spurs striker.

"You would have to put him in the same category as Harry Kane," said Pardew. "Harry has had a great spell in terms of fitness and is at the top of his game. That’s understandable that he is probably ahead of Daniel.

"But Daniel has the potential, particularly against teams I think where you need goal, where you need to break them down, he has some individual flair that not many players can match.

"So if we can get him fit and anywhere near his best, I am sure Gareth (Southgate) will be taking a close look."

Pardew acknowledged Sturridge's injury history but promised that the Baggies would do their utmost to keep him fit and firing.

"When you sign anybody, you can lose them straight away," said Pardew. "All you can do is treat them with good faith and hopefully they steer clear of injury and if you get a run with Daniel, hopefully he'll respond with goals.

"Of course, like all players, it's a concern. Some players get injured more than others, Daniel fits that category, we're going to make sure that everything we can do in terms of preparation is fulfilled."

Albion are not planning to sign anymore players this window, but Pardew said that because Sturridge's deal was temporary, it carried less risk than others.

Albion were also interested in Troy Deeney, and were willing to pay Watford £16million to get him, but they walked away from that deal when the former Walsall man refused to include a relegation clause in his contract.

"The cost of Daniel to perhaps another striker is a lesser cost and puts less risk on us if this club gets relegated," said Pardew. "We can't take our eye off that.

"The custody of this club is in mine and John Williams' hands. If we are relegated at the end of the year, it's up to us to make sure the club is not at risk. Our interest in any other striker is over."

Albion have paid Liverpool a £2million loan fee and are covering all of his £120,000-a-week wages on top of that.

It was thought that they would struggle to meet that demand under the short term cost control element of Financial Fair Play, but Pardew dismissed that notion.

"We have to comply with Fair Play rules and we're doing that," said Pardew. "We wouldn't possibly go past that. This deal brings us under that.

"This club is run by John Williams and he knows enough about this business and our finances to know that Daniel comes under that."

Sturridge trained with his new squad for the first time this morning, and Pardew is already impressed with what he's seen.

"He looks well, and has already done a couple of things to make you go 'oooh' in a good way," said Pardew. "He's a good lad, he's hungry to do well for West Brom, because Birmingham is his home town.

"He sees in us a potential to move his career forward in this period we're together.

"Since I've been here I've tried to change the emphasis to a more attacking mode by playing with two strikers but the goals for column hasn't significantly moved.

"I wanted to add to that positivity and bring in a statement player who's got a good record and scores one goal every two games or just over that.

"He's a fantastic player, who could go to the World Cup.

"If that doesn't put some buzz and energy into the players, nothing will. It's a great signing for the football club and you can sense that on the training ground, but they've got to respond now, particularly our strikers.

"Maybe the threat was enough to get Jay (Rodriguez)'s best performance of the season because he was superb at Liverpool."