West Brom manager Slaven Bilic has suggested the club will not look to rush through a deal to sign Huddersfield Town striker Karlan Grant, as their search for a goalscorer in the transfer window continues.
The Baggies have reportedly already seen a bid for Grant rejected this summer, and while Grant is apparently keen to complete a move to The Hawthorns, the Terriers are said to be refusing to budge over their £17million asking price.
That is something that could make things difficult for West Brom given their limited budget, and it seems Bilic is in no mood to get deals done simply for the sake of it this summer.
Speaking about the club’s pursuit of Grant, the Baggies boss was quoted by The Examiner as saying: “Unless we can get someone that I or we think gives us something we don’t have, then what’s the point?
“I would rather wait, I would rather wait to get the proper one – the one that we want, than get one just for the sake of doing it.”
Inded, it seems Bilic is well aware of the challenges facing his side – both from a football and non-football perspective – in the market this summer, as the Croatian continued: “We were in a difficult situation – not just because of Covid – but we were in a difficult situation where we had to spend our funds to keep the players we had last season on loan.
“Then phase two is to improve your squad which you have to do because you are going to play one level up.”
As things stand, there are still two years remaining on Grant’s contract with Huddersfield, meaning the Championship side are in a decent position to negotiate any offer that might come in from West Brom.
With that in mind, it is interesting to here these comments from Bilic, who appears to be suggesting that the club will not pay over the odds for any player this summer.
Given the current situation with regards to finances in football, that is probably a sensible thing, but is does not take away from the fact that the Baggies badly need to sign a goalscorer this summer.
If it is not going to be Grant because he is too expensive, then they do need to find a cheaper alternative sooner rather than later, with the clock ticking down to the end of the window.
