Premier League strugglers West Bromwich Albion and Newcastle United are set to fight it out with Chelsea willing to let Charly Musonda leave on loan.
As soon as the results began to turn, it was all over for Tony Pulis at West Bromwich Albion. It says a lot about the arch-pragmatist’s style of football that he was far from universally popular at The Hawthorns, even when leading the club to a top-half finish last season.
And so far, Pulis’s successor Alan Pardew has been unable to arrest the slide with the Baggies win-less in 20 games. They are second from bottom as things stand and have scored just 16 goals in 22 Premier League fixtures. If victory is rare at West Brom right now, excitement is uncommon, too.
Although that could change if the Midlands side can pull off a deal to sign Charly Musonda from Chelsea for the rest of the season.
The Telegraph stated on Wednesday that the Belgian is likely to leave on loan for the rest of the campaign after he was forced further down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge by the arrival of Ross Barkley from Everton. The report adds that there is no shortage of takers with West Brom, Newcastle United, Bournemouth and Watford all keen.
Newcastle will likely go all out for Musonda this month with Rafa Benitez, to his eternal frustration, forced to look for bargain deals and short-term loans with Mike Ashley seemingly unwilling to invest.
As reported by the Chronicle, Benitez has been looking at the 21-year-old for some time, so his availability should spur the Magpies into life.
But Musonda is the sort of signing West Brom are crying out for.
He may be unproven in the Premier League, having played just 26 minutes in Chelsea colours, but if he can produce the sort of creativity, skill and dazzling dribbling skills which saw him light up La Liga during a 2015/16 loan spell at Real Betis, Musonda could be the man who gets supporters off their seats at The Hawthorns.
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