West Bromwich Albion Seeks Strong Finish in Transfer Window

James Morrison is pushing. West Bromwich Albion have started fast, and their head coach wants the club’s recruitment drive to finish just as strongly.

The Baggies are close to confirming a deal for Manchester United midfielder Toby Collyer, with the move understood to be worth up to £7.6m. It would mark a permanent return for the 20-year-old, who impressed during a loan spell at The Hawthorns in the first half of last season.

Morrison, speaking to BBC Radio WM, made no attempt to hide his desire for more business before the transfer window shuts on 1 September.

“I am hopeful,” he said. “There's been a lot of hard work been going on behind the scenes. We have to do things a little bit differently, we have to be clever about it and I felt that we've been doing that because we've had a lot of signings.”

Tunde brings pace and a new dimension

One of those new faces is Spanish winger Kareem Tunde, signed from Levante this week and already under close inspection from his new boss.

“It's a big opportunity for him, coming to a new culture, still only being 21,” Morrison said. “He's an exciting prospect and an exciting player, so we're delighted to have him.

“It just gives us different options now and I felt like we've always missed that little bit in games where we could stretch our opposition and he's got that pace and power that we've been looking for.”

Tunde is the eighth arrival of the summer, a number that underlines how aggressively West Brom have reshaped their squad. Morrison, though, has no intention of easing off before deadline day. The squad is being tuned, not torn up, and early results suggest the balance is right.

Fast start, tougher tests

West Brom have opened the Championship campaign with two wins from two, a sharp contrast to some of the stuttering starts that have dogged them in recent seasons. The foundations are there. Now comes a real examination.

Next up are Middlesbrough on Saturday – last season’s beaten play-off finalists and Morrison’s hometown club, where he began his playing career.

He knows the emotional pull of going back. He also knows the danger of letting it get in the way.

“I've been back many times and played, so I'm over that,” he said. “I can remember my first one going back and I was all over the place, I was terrible. So I learnt from that experience.

“I think my last time there as a player, I ended up scoring and I still remember that feeling. So I'm really looking forward to the game, but also I know this is going to be one of the toughest away fixtures we'll face.

“But they've [the Albion players] set a standard now and they can't let it drop.”

A squad being rebuilt, a coach demanding more, and a perfect start on the line at a hostile ground he knows better than most – Morrison doesn’t just want signings in before 1 September. He wants proof that this West Brom side are ready to live with the standards they’ve set.