West Bromwich Albion will aim to pick up their first Championship win of the year this coming Saturday versus Blackburn Rovers, with Daryl Dike potentially tipped to lead the line again for the Baggies.
Dike helped himself to a goal in West Brom’s emphatic 4-1 win over Aldershot Town in the FA Cup last weekend, shaking off any signs of rust in the process after battling to be back fit for the game at the Hawthorns.
Carlos Corberan won’t want to overload the American targetman with loads of minutes after being out for nine months, looking at what strikers are available in the transfer window this month to add more quality up top.
West Brom have been rumoured to be after hot property Kieffer Moore this month, but could opt instead to go after another target with Moore an asset that could be extremely hard to poach.
West Brom transfer latest – striker hunt
Cited as having interest in AFC Bournemouth striker Moore courtesy of the Sun this month, the Baggies are not alone by any means in their interest with Leeds United, Birmingham City, Cardiff City and Middlesbrough all named as parties who are going after the prolific second tier sharpshooter too.
West Brom could well grow tired of this transfer tussle and go more left-field as a result, with social media posts from both Sports Digitale and football journalist Yagiz Sabuncuoglu indicating that Fenerbahce striker Umut Nayir is now a transfer target for Corberan’s men.
The hitch in that potential deal is Cardiff City are also reportedly keen on Nayir, the Bluebirds potentially having the upper hand in the deal owing to Turkish manager Erol Bulut being in charge of the club alongside other links.
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Still, with the Fenerbahce striker coming in at a lofty 6 foot 3 frame and boasting an impressive goalscoring record across his career to date, he could well be the perfect Moore alternative for the Baggies if a deal can be reached.
How Umut Nayir compares to Kieffer Moore
The 30-year-old forward has never ventured off home soil in his career to date, garnering a reputation as being a deadly striker for various different clubs across many leagues in Turkey.
Last campaign in the Süper Lig for Ümraniyespor, the towering striker showed off his clinical edge in front of goal with 17 goals registered from just 31 appearances.
That rich vein of goalscoring form saw giants Fenerbahce come calling with the move unfortunately falling flat for the 30-year-old, yet to find the back of the net for the Istanbul based titans this campaign.
Still, Nayir has amassed 117 goals across his extensive career so far and could well see his current predicament as a way to branch out to unfamiliar territory in West Brom to try and reawaken his deadly streak again in the opposition’s penalty box.
In contrast, although Moore comes with the tag of being proven to know where the back of the net is at second-tier level, the Welshman has amassed just 47 goals in the Championship from 155 appearances which pales in comparison to Nayir’s goal numbers.
Going with the bold approach could pay off the Baggies in the long run, gambling on Nayir to come good and reaping the rewards instead of putting all their eggs into one basket to land Moore and then the Bournemouth man flops on his arrival to the West Midlands.
Regardless of who comes in through the door as another striker this January for West Brom, Corberan’s men need more numbers in the building with Dike injury-prone, Josh Maja absent for some time with a serious injury and Brandon Thomas-Asante not guaranteed to be a regular source of goals.
In Nayir, the Baggies could strike gold and land a talisman that could fire them up the league and make them a feared team in the promotion race.
