West Brom remain in talks with Huddersfield Town over the structure of a deal for the signing of striker Karlan Grant, the Express and Star’s Joseph Masi has claimed.
Having scored 19 goals in the Championship last season, Grant has seemingly emerged as a key target for the Baggies this summer, as they look to add a goalscorer to their ranks for their return to Premier League.
Recent reports have claimed that West Brom have already had an offer for Grant rejected by Huddersfield earlier in the window.
Now it seems negotiations are ongoing over a possible new bid, with the prospect of structured payments for the 22-year-old apparently not being ruled out, due to the size of the fee demanded by the Terriers.
Speaking about West Brom’s pursuit of Grant on the Baggies Broadcast podcast, Masi said: “What do we understand about the Karlan Grant situation? Basically, Albion haven’t got £16m to pay [for] him in the way that Huddersfield want it.
“I don’t think Albion think the £15/16m Huddersfield want is ridiculous, but whether Huddersfield want half now, half next year, or 70% now and the rest in instalments – however they want that money, Albion are not in favour of it, they want to spread it out over more payments.
“So, what we understand is negotiations are still ongoing, they’re trying to strike a deal.”
Discussing whether or not he thinks Grant will complete a move to The Hawthorns in the current transfer window, Masi continued: “There’s a big part of me that thinks it will happen. Karlan Grant isn’t involved for Huddersfield at the minute, he’s made it abundantly clear to the club he wants to leave.”
While it does seem as though it will not be easy given the finances involved, there is still an argument that West Brom ought to feel confident of getting this deal in the coming weeks.
With seemingly having made it clear that he wants a move to West Brom, that is likely to put the pressure on Huddersfield this summer, since they may not want him in the squad if he does not want to be there.
As a result, you wonder whether the Terriers might eventually back down as the window goes on, especially considering that a guaranteed payment over the course of a few years from this sale could be useful for the club with the financial uncertainty brought about by the current global situation.
