West Brom finalising move for free agent midfielder

M'Vila, 33, briefly worked under Carlos Corberan at Olympiacos in Greece, where the central midfielder was released from last summer.

He has remained a free agent since and Albion registered their interest last week after the transfer deadline passed. The head coach was keen for another body as a central midfield option after the season-ending foot injury to Jayson Molumby.

Corberan and M'Vila only worked together for six weeks before the Spaniard was dismissed just 11 games into his tenure with the 47-time Super League champions.

M'Vila has brief experience of English football. He spent the 2015/16 season on loan with Sunderland in the Premier League and played in all but one league fixture to help the Black Cats retain their top-flight status.

Albion are working on securing a visa and finalising other parts of the midfielder's contract, which is thought to be just for the remainder of the season. Corberan praised the character of the Frenchman, who won 22 caps for his nation between 2010 and 2012.

He burst through as a highly-rated youngster at Rennes in his homeland before five years in Russia with Rubin Kazan, which including loans at Sunderland and Inter Milan. He returned to France with Saint-Etienne before switching to Greek giants Olympiacos in 2020, where he spent three seasons.

M'Vila was a regular at his previous club and played 46 games last season, including 11 European appearances, mostly in the Europa League.

The deal is not likely to be complete on Friday as Albion head down to Suffolk to stop overnight for tomorrow's lunchtime kick-off against Ipswich at Portman Road.

Corberan's other midfield options are Okay Yokuslu, Alex Mowatt and Nathaniel Chalobah. The former duo have been the head coach's first picks, though the Spaniard has stressed his desire to have four senior midfielders on the books. Academy youngster Harry Whitwell has been in the squad in recent weeks.

"When you know someone you have one advantage in terms of the character because you know his character," Corberan said.

"Normally when you watch players you know their skills because when you watch games you can watch their skills but what you don’t know is their personality.

"With M'Vila he is a player that I know because with every player that I was working with with Olympiacos, even if it was a short space of time, I know the personalities of them and if you ask me about him, he was one of the players that surprised me more positively in terms of the personality as a professional football player."