Revealed: How former West Brom loanee helped seal £1.3m striker deal

New boy Jimmy-Jay Morgan has revealed how a chat with a former Albion loan star helped convince him to sign for the club.

Morgan became the Baggies’ second first-team signing of the summer when he joined from Chelsea earlier this week, in a deal worth an initial £1.3million.

The 20-year-old forward believes The Hawthorns is the best place to take the next step of his career and revealed he had sought advice from Danny Imray before agreeing to the move.

Imray spent the second half of last season on loan with the Baggies from Crystal Palace, helping them avoid relegation to League One.

The pair know each other from youth football and Morgan said: “Danny said amazing things about the place.

“I’ve heard nothing but positive things so far and I understand how big the club is. The size of the club is one of the main reasons why I wanted to join and I can’t wait to get going.”

Morgan also spoke to Albion boss James Morrison and a former Chelsea team-mate, Alfie Gilchrist.

He continued: “My conversation with the manager was really good.

“He told me about the style of football he wants to play and how I’m going to fit into that. He also spoke about the work he wants to do with me to help bring out my best attributes.

“Alfie spoke about the size of the club and settling into a club of this size. I’m really close with Alfie.”

Chelsea legend John Terry, who coached Morgan at the west London club, was among those to wish him well on social media after his move to Albion was confirmed.

Morgan is eager to prove himself in the Championship after scoring 14 goals in League One while on loan at Peterborough last season.

That followed a less productive spell at Gillingham and he explained: “I don’t think I expressed myself enough on the pitch in my first loan. I took the shackles off last year and I had a much better year.

“I don’t want to get ahead of myself and say making the transition from League One to Championship football is going to be easy.

“I’m going to start by putting in a lot of hard work and by putting in 100 per cent every day on the training pitch.

“I’m really excited for the challenge. As players, we always want to test ourselves and this is a really exciting test. I’m confident I can come in and produce what I know I’m capable of if I work hard.

“The loan system has served me really well over the last few years, but the most beneficial thing for me this summer was finding a new home and somewhere where I could have a plan and excel.

“I’ve only been here for a very short time, but I already feel very comfortable and I can tell it’s a family club. I feel very happy. I want to help the club finish in a much higher position than last year. Individually, I want to play as much as I can, learn as much as I can and, hopefully, score plenty of goals.”