Championship leaders West Bromwich Albion let Marcus Forss sign for Brentford in 2017 - now West Ham, Southampton, Watford and Brighton want him.
History appears to be repeating itself for West Bromwich Albion – and not in a good way.
The Championship table toppers were left wondering what might have been when Chris Wood, the former Baggies youngster scored 27 goals for Leeds United to pave the way for a £15 million move to Burnley in 2017, as reported by the BBC.
Now, two years on, another brilliant young striker who failed to make the grade at the Hawthorns could be set to follow the New Zealand number nine into the Premier League.
Forss of nature
Marcus Forss has been a revelation this season. Since joining AFC Wimbledon on loan from Brentford, the Finland U21 international has netted seven times in eight League One games for a side struggling at the wrong end of the table with a brilliant hat-trick against relegation rivals Southend United a particular highlight.
As a result, TEAMtalk claims that West Ham, Southampton, Watford and Brighton and Hove Albion are all taking a keen interest with the January transfer window hardly a million miles away.
It is two years since Forss was released by West Brom, his scholarship coming to an end in June 2017 prior to his move to Brentford. And like Wood before him, it seems that the Midland giants have allowed another potentially top-level centre-forward to slip through their grasp.
Now its not all bad for West Brom right now. Slaven Bilic has led the Baggies to the top of the Championship table and a return to the Promised Land looks a genuine possibility.
But most of their attacking threat this season has come from the twinkling toes of Matt Phillips, Mateus Pereira and Grady Diangana. Charlie Austin, Kenneth Zohore and Hal Robson-Kanu, despite a respectable track record in the division, have netted just five times between them so far in 2019/20.
Who knows whether Forss, who looks lethal with both feet from any range and any angle right now, would be thriving at the tip of Bilic’s attack. But with the benefit of hindsight, West Brom surely would have chosen to extend his contract in the summer of 2017.
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