Football League World
·18 April 2024
"Forget that we've got Daryl Dike" - Solution given to Brandon Thomas-Asante, West Brom problem
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Football League World
·18 April 2024
This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
West Bromwich Albion have struggled, at times, to get consistent production from their number nines, and Brandon Thomas-Asante has been one of the players that fans have aimed their grievances at.
The strongest part of Carlos Corberan's squad isn't in the striker department. Thomas-Asante is their only current, fully fit option up front, as Josh Maja continues to build up fitness after another one of the many injuries that he has suffered this season. He's only played in 10 matches for Albion since joining on a free in the summer.
As a result of this, a lot of West Brom's goals have had to come from other areas of the pitch. Loanee winger Mikey Johnston has stepped up in a big way since arriving, temporarily, from Celtic in January. John Swift has also been a key contributor in the goals department.
But, even with his inconsistencies, the 25-year-old Ghanian forward, who Albion signed from Salford City for just £300,000, according to the Express & Star, is leading the way for the team this season with 11 league goals.
Now, him leading the team in scoring isn't to say that he has carried them to their current fifth-place spot in the Championship table, or that he is the man that Albion should be building the team around. Football League World'sWest Brom fan pundit, Matt Smith, doesn't think the 25-year-old should be the club's main striker.
Smith believes that the solution to the Baggies' striker issue could be solved without having to delve deep into the transfer market.
When asked about whether the Baggies need to look at upgrading on the former Salford man, FLW'sWest Brom fan pundit said: "I certainly think that we need reinforcements in the striker area. But I think I'd suggest that they may already be at the club, because we haven't really seen Maja get a run of games in an Albion shirt yet.
"He's been injured a lot, so we've barely had a look at him. He hs a good goalscoring record, which is what we need. Has he got the other stuff that Thomas-Asante does? Who knows.
"I think that we also can't forget that we've got Daryl Dike, who cost something like £7 million. If we get those two fit, alongside Thomas-Asante, that has the potential to be a lethal striker line-up.
"However, we certainly need a goalscorer, and that's the one thing that Thomas-Asante lacks. Do we already have that in the club? Possibly. If not, then maybe a goalscorer is the addition that we need, perhaps."
The aspirations and ambitions of West Brom have always been clear: get back to the top flight. Now, with Shilen Patel as the new owner of the club, the path to reaching that goal is looking a lot clearer.
Birmingham Live have reported that he is worth £79.5 million, while The Athletic said that his total net worth, with assets included, is £1.58 billion.
The bottom line is that West Brom are going to have a lot more money to spend on players than Corberan has had throughout his entire time as manager at the Hawthorns.
If they want to get back to the Premier League, then they can't have Thomas-Asante as their main number nine. Even some of the best second tier strikers, like Teemu Pukki, have struggled once they reached the top flight, and the Ghanaian hasn't proved that he's on that level.
Smith may be right in the fact that Dike or Maja could be that guy. Either way, Albion will have the resources to go and try and fix that problem if they have to.