West Bromwich Albion can seriously upgrade their midfield and give their promotion push next season a huge boost by signing Leicester City’s Hamza Choudhury this summer.
The Baggies have been strongly linked to Choudhury recently with the Birmingham Mail reporting that Leicester would be willing to let the player leave, but would prefer a permanent deal rather than a loan.
Whether West Brom are willing to pay the fee required is another matter, but if they’re not, then in any loan deal they would still have to pay 80% of his wages, according to The Express and Star.
They are also not the only club interested with fellow Championship side Middlesbrough also admirers of the player. Steve Bruce’s side need to do all they can to land the 24-year-old who can seriously improve their midfield.
Is Choudhury better than Livermore?
The club’s current squad is in need of a refresh, and we think that Choudhury would be a better option than club captain Jake Livermore. As controversial as it may sound, at 32 years old, the Baggies skipper isn’t getting any younger.
If they are to compete at the top end of the league, they need players who are almost Premier League quality, and Livermore certainly isn’t that anymore.
He made 37 appearances for the West Midlands side last season so played a key part, and having previously played under Bruce at Hull City, he’ll be tough for the manager to drop.
However, just because he wouldn’t be starting as many games doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have a key role to play, particularly in the dressing room if the team are fighting to go up.
Choudhury has been described as “excellent” by journalist Baz Cooper, and his performances in a Leicester shirt have seen him talked about as a future England star.
Bruce has also admired him for a long time and even wanted to bring him to Newcastle United during his sting on Tyneside.
If you compare him to Livermore you can see he performs better in many areas, he makes on average 2.0 interceptions per game which is better than the WBA captain’s 1.1.
He also won an impressive 70% of duels last season with Livermore winning 47%. This is simply a transfer West Brom have to be making.
AND in other news: Bruce now closing in on “brilliant” £27k-p/w West Brom target, just imagine him & Dike…
