Despite having to operate under the EFL’s rules, West Brom had a fairly satisfactory summer transfer
window. Baggies fans had always accepted that the club would not do much when it came to transfer windows and deadline day. WBA, until Shilen Patel’s arrival, had to sell players in order to stay afloat, but this summer, despite being forced to follow an EFL-imposed business plan, may have been the best summer ever for transactions, as several of the club’s high earners were moved off the books and the average age of the squad was also lowered. The top scorer from the previous season, Brandon Thomas-Asante, left for Coventry City, while Okay Yokuslu completed a transfer to Trabzonspor.
Although Carlos Corberan was never able to accomplish much, he has been able to bring in players from overseas and those with championship experience since the end of June. Torbjorn Heggem, a center back from Norway, was acquired for a fee, and Devante Cole, Joe Wildsmith, and Ousmane Diakite all arrived for free. One of the most surprising bits of business was the loan signing of Lewis Dobbin, who had only joined Aston Villa a couple of weeks ago from Everton for £10m.
Best till last, Mikey Johnston returned for £3 million on the last day of the window, having spent the summer at Celtic. Burnley and Sheffield United were strongly linked to him, but he chose to return to the Hawthorns. Johnston wasn’t the only player to return; Mason Holgate also signed a season-long loan from Everton, having previously played for the team in 2018–19.
Most significantly, West Brom managed to stave off interest from Southampton and Ipswich Town, who both had bids for Tom Fellows rejected. The two Premier League players valued the player at approximately £10 million and £12 million. It’s interesting to see how other teams perceive West Brom’s players, so after the transfer window closed, we looked at TransferMarkt to find out how much each member of their first-team squad is worth.
