West Bromwich Albion are set to have a major rebuild this summer following the arrival of four-time promotion-winning manager Steve Bruce, who has been set the task to get the Baggies back into the Premier League.
The Black Country club has fallen short of taking the opportunity to bounce back into the top flight following an inconsistent and disappointing season at The Hawthorns that has led the club to fall into tenth in the league table currently.
The club and manager clearly recognise big changes and improvements need to be made at the end of the season, with Bruce openly giving detail on the plans for the transfer window.
Bruce told BirminghamLive:
“I think we need to freshen the whole squad up. How big? I would think it would be substantial – I hope.
“I think we need as many as five or six – a major overhaul is needed.”
With that being said, West Brom have been in hot pursuit of out-of-contract Reading midfielder John Swift who has had another impressive season with his Championship side and it has been reported that the Baggies have even sent scouts to watch him play this season on several occasions.
Swift has been a consistent and creative attacking threat for the Royals this season scoring 11 goals and contributing 13 assists in 38 league appearances, but his impressive G/A only tells part of the story of his performances this season from the centre of the pitch.
The £25k-per-week ace who was hailed “super talented” by Veljko Paunovic averages 66.8 touches and 2.7 key passes per game, as well as being successful in the majority of his dribbles (58%) and creating ten big chances for his team, proving he is an absolute nuisance for his opponents in the advanced midfield role he is deployed in.
Should West Brom sign John Swift?
The Reading star was even dubbed the “Championship James Maddison” by journalist Josh Holland, who sang the praises of Swift to GIVEMESPORT:
“It’s quite impressive. Whenever I’ve seen him play this season, he reminds me of a Championship level James Maddison in terms of he comes deep, and it always goes through Maddison, which is the same as Swift at Reading.”
There is no doubt that Swift would be a huge upgrade and make considerably more impact on the West Brom attacking third than Grady Diangana, who has been largely inconsistent in his position for the Baggies this season with just two goals in 40 league appearances.
Ultimately, if Bruce does manage to secure the signature of their hot prospect he will need to rethink what part Diangana will play in the team going forward as the priority is to win games and get back into the Premier League as soon as they possibly can.
