West Bromwich Albion need to bolster their options at the top end of the pitch if they want to compete for promotion to the Premier League next season.
The Baggies only scored 48 goals in 46 matches in the Championship, as they failed to score goals regularly enough to push up the table, and they need to address that in the summer transfer window.
West Brom have had some terrific attacking players in the second tier in the past, particularly in the wide areas, and Harvey Barnes is one name that comes to mind.
Harvey-Barnes-West-Brom
The English forward spent the first half of the 2018/19 campaign on loan at The Hawthorns in the Championship before being recalled by Leicester City in the January transfer window.
After his departure midway through the season, the Baggies went on to lose to Aston Villa in the play-off semi-finals and missed out on the chance of promotion to the Premier League.
Leicester recalled Barnes midway through the 2018/19 season because they were feeling the effects of Riyad Mahrez's £60m move to Manchester City the previous summer.
riyad-mahrez-pfa-poty
The Algerian forward had scored 12 goals and provided ten assists in the top-flight the season before that, convincing City to splash the cash on him, and that left Claude Puel without much quality out wide.
Barnes' impressive form for West Brom on loan, scoring nine goals and providing six assists in 26 Championship games, led to Leicester recalling him because of the Mahrez-shaped hole in their team at the time.
The Baggies then lost to Villa on penalties after a 2-2 draw across both legs in the semi-final, as they lacked a match-winner like Barnes, and their rivals then beat Derby in the final.
Whilst Mahrez's exit and Leicester's situation at the time hindered West Brom in 2019, the current situation at the King Power could work to the club's advantage.
West Brom must pursue their next Harvey Barnes
Derby County are one of the teams reportedly interested in a deal to sign Stephy Mavididi from the Foxes following their relegation to League One this season.
Stephy Mavididi
The Rams are looking to take advantage of their relegation by swooping for the English forward, who joined Leicester from Montpellier for £7m in the summer of 2023, and West Brom should take notice of that and join the race for his signature.
After two difficult seasons, suffering back-to-back relegations, Mavididi could be convinced to move on from the King Power to join a team aiming for promotion to the Premier League next term.
23/24 Championship Stephy Mavididi
Appearances 46
xG 9.09
Goals 12
Big chances created 11
xA 8.61
Assists 6
The 27-year-old star was an influential part of Enzo Maresca's title-winning team in the Championship in the 2023/24 campaign, hitting double figures for both goals and 'big chances' created.
West Brom have not had a natural wide player who has provided goals and assists on a regular basis since Barnes. Matheus Pereira was more of an attacking midfielder than a natural winger, whilst the likes of Tom Fellows and Mikey Johnston have not scored goals regularly.
stephy-mavididi-leicester
Johnston scored two goals and provided nine assists this season, whilst Fellows scored four goals and assisted 14 the campaign before that for the Baggies, showing that they can offer superb creativity, but not much in the way of goalscoring.
Mavididi only produced four goals and three assists in all competitions for the Foxes this term, but he did score four goals in the Premier League in the 2024/25 campaign, and he has been part of a badly struggling team for the past two seasons.
His performances for Leicester when they won the Championship title shows that he has the potential to be a fantastic signing for the Baggies, and that is why they should take advantage of his relegation to League One to secure a deal ahead of Derby this summer.
West Brom once had their promotion hopes scuppered by Leicester's situation when they needed to recall Barnes, and now they need to bolster their promotion hopes by exploiting the Foxes' struggles to sign another impressive winger from their rivals.
If Mavididi can recapture the form that he showed a couple of years ago, he would comfortably be the club's best natural winger since Barnes and become a key part of James Morrison's push for promotion.
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