West Brom should act now if interested in Graham Potter

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West Bromwich Albion have recently been linked with Graham Potter, but he is now catching the eye of a Premier League rival.

According to a report from the Daily Mail back in February, West Brom are keeping a keen eye on Ostersunds boss Graham Potter as Alan Pardew’s future at The Hawthorns continues to be called into question.

Pardew’s appointment appears destined to go down as a complete failure from the Baggies. West Brom find themselves eight points off safety in the Premier League and even the most optimistic of supporters would struggle to argue that the great escape is on the cards.

Targeting Potter would be a gamble given his lack of experience as a manager in England, or in any high profile league for that matter, but as a former player, he knows the club well, and the work that he has done to take Ostersunds from the fourth tier in Sweden to the Europa League in just over seven years deserves an enormous amount of praise.

And now it seems that West Brom are not the only team to put him on their radar.

The Daily Mirror reported earlier this week that Southampton are already planning for life without Mauricio Pellegrino and Potter is one of the names that they may move for in the summer if they decide to sack the Spaniard.

There is no question that the Saints stand a much greater chance of staying up this season than West Brom, so if the pair finish in their current positions in the table – Southampton 17th and West Brom 20th – Potter would be forgiven for picking a move to St Mary’s.

Therefore, if West Brom are seriously keen to bring Potter in, perhaps the Baggies should admit defeat with Pardew now and make their move before the Saints do.

It may be too late to save their season, but appointing Potter now will see the club land a driven manager who is clearly very good at putting foundations in place to benefit the long-term picture, and knows what it takes to get promoted, of course.

It is not as if Pardew is overseeing a brilliant run of form that hints that they still have a much better chance than the table suggests, so getting rid of him now and giving Potter the rest of the season to assess his options may be a very smart move.

And if they needed any additional motivation, the fact that Southampton are now keen for the summer and may be able to offer him a Premier League job for next season should convince the Baggies that acting now would be wise.