Why West Brom's January window has been another step in the right direction

On Saturday, Mowbray insisted that if no more business was to take place he would be happy with his lot. But every manager always wants more, and if deals materialise, I am sure he will be happy.

In an ideal world, Albion could do with bolstering in certain positions, but if they don't then it has still been another positive window on a couple of fronts.

The signings of Issac Price from Standard Liege, a long term target of Albion's, and highly rated young forward Will Lankshear, represent solid business for Albion.

And the business for those two players underlines the shift in vision and stance from Albion in the last two transfer windows.

This is the second transfer window under sporting director Andrew Nestor and Bilkul, since they took over the club in February last year.

They came in on the back of the last January transfer window, and it isn't clear whether they had any sway on what happened 12 months ago, while the final pieces of their takeover deal were going through.

Prior to their arrival though, the last three transfer windows in the Championship had seen Albion largely bring in players who were, to want of a better phrase, longer in the tooth, and short term solutions at best.

Those short term solutions didn't really come to fruition. In 2022, Albion made their last big money move in Daryl Dike, who is an outlier to this argument. He was one for the future, but we all know what has happened with that one.

It still may be one for the future, but the jury is very much out given Dike's injury woes.

Also in that window they moved for Andy Carroll as a quick fix. You couldn't fault Carroll's effort during his short spell, but it was never one for the future.

In the following window, with Albion in the midst of their financial struggles under the previous owner, they moved to bring in Marc Albrighton and Nathaniel Chalobah.

Albrighton had achieved the ultimate Premier League success in his career, but he was at the end and Chalobah was already well travelled around the division.

Last January was a mixed bag, with Mikey Johnston hitting the spot on loan, but other deals like Andi Weimann on loan fell into the same mould as Albrighton and Chalobah.

Another name to hang in this argument is Yann M'Vila, although he came in as a free agent after the deadline.

But from that 'strategy', if that is what you can call it, of going for players well known around the division, Albion have certainly changed their direction under Bilkul.

Torbjorn Heggem and Ousmane Diakite in the summer came in as young, unknown foreign players and they have impressed.

And again in this window, more so with Price, Nestor and Bilkul have outlined that they want to make additions not just for the here and now, but for the future as well.

You do have to strike a balance, between bringing those players in and trying to add in quality players who know the division, or loans from bigger clubs that will increase the quality in your squad.

But on the former, Bilkul have continued to do that and it is refreshing to see after some of the recruitment that has happened in the past.