West Brom to seal permanent deal for Bristol City goalkeeper Max O'Leary

The 29-year-old Robins shot-stopper is out of contract at the end of the season at Ashton Gate, where he has found himself out of the first-team regular reckoning.

O'Leary will sign a short-term, six-month deal at The Hawthorns to compete for a place as Albion No.1 under new boss Eric Ramsay after the Baggies shipped five unanswered goals in the diabolical 5-0 home drubbing from Norwich this week.

He is poised to join ahead of Friday night's crunch clash at Derby County as lowly Albion seek to halt a 10-match away Championship losing streak.

The Express & Star reported prior to January that Albion have been on the hunt for goalkeeping options due to the struggles between the sticks for Josh Griffiths and Joe Wildsmith this season.

Former boss Ryan Mason attempted to switch from Griffiths to Wildsmith in December but the change did not have the desired effect.

The number of shots faced on target compared to goals conceded by the Baggies has been a concerning statistic.

One-cap Republic of Ireland international O'Leary, who won his sole cap last year, came through the ranks at Bristol City and emerged as No.1 after loans at Kidderminster Harriers, Bath City, Solihull Moors and Shrewsbury Town. He joined Shrewsbury the summer boss Ramsay left the Shropshire club for Chelsea.

He has made 176 appearances for the Robins in a stint of 10 years in the senior reckoning.

O'Leary has been usurped by Manchester United loanee Radek Vitek this season but did play in City's 2-0 win at The Hawthorns on Boxing Day, where he made a couple of key saves.

Boss Ramsay was asked about Albion's issues between the sticks when it comes to a poor record of conceding goals versus the amount of goals on target this season.

He said: "I think the focus at the moment for me is the collective, it's making sure that we have enough control of games that we're not giving away easy opportunities to cross, easy opportunities to shoot from the edge of the box and they are the very controllable things for me at the moment.

"Some things that go against you in the box that can be down to bad luck, bad decision making but at the moment my concern is the framework that leads to those moments."