One in, one out: How West Brom new boy Devante Cole compares to outgoing Albion forward

It has been a week of change at The Hawthorns with players departing, as the club's hierachy move players in the transfer market.

The departure of Brandon Thomas-Asante comes at a time when Albion have only two fit strikers in the squad, in the form of Karlan Grant and Josh Maja, with Daryl Dike still sidelined.

With Thomas-Asante heading to Coventry, Albion have moved to bring in Cole, son of former Manchester United forward Andy, who has been a free agent since being released by Barnsley in the summer.

Here is a look into his career so far and what Baggies fans can expect:

Cole was a graduate of Man City's academy having joined the club at the age of eight.

After rising through the youth ranks, he went on loan spells at Barnsley and MK Dons, before spending time at a handful of League One and Two clubs.

He earned himself a Championship move to Wigan but would only play a handful of games, before further loan spells, one being in Scotland.

He would go on to sign permanently for the Scottish club and net 11 goals in 27 games, before a move back to Barnsley in the Championship.

In his first season back at Oakwell, the striker would net just twice, but across three seasons at the club, two of them in League One, he bagged 36 goals in 129 games.

A tall, lean striker, Cole's goalscoring exploits over the last two seasons at the League One side had seen him linked with a move to a number of Championship sides, with Barnsley's releasing him after they failed to win promotion.

He now arrives at Albion and to some may be a bit of an underwhelming signing.

As it currently stands, Cole looks to be the replacement for Thomas-Asante, so how do their goal records stack up against each other.

Prior to joining Albion, Thomas-Asante had played the majority of football in League Two, with his two seasons at Albion being his first at the level.

In the last two seasons, he has scored on average one in every four games, with that average being at around one goal every four and a half games throughout his career.

Looking at Cole's statistics, the forward bagged one goal in every three games during his time at Barnsley.

And when you glance at his career as a whole, it is one in every four games.

There will of course be differences between the two strikers in terms of strengths and attributes, but in terms of goalscoring statistics they are quite similar, with Cole arguably having the edge.

The loss of Thomas-Asante, given his age, attributes and the room he had to improve, it may be hard to swallow that he has been moved on.

And with the incoming Cole, some may see it as a step back in terms of signing a free agent from League One.

However, it should be remembered that players have come from divisions below to do a good job for Albion before, namely the one heading out of the door.