West Brom will pay £15m for Spurs’ Wimmer – Pulis needs to confirm

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West Brom chiefs have given green light to sign Tottenham defender Kevin Wimmer but Tony Pulis is yet to confirm the deal.

Tony Pulis is said to be undecided about whether West Bromwich Albion should confirm the £15m transfer or Tottenham Hotspur’s Kevin Wimmer despite bosses at the club sanctioning the deal, reports the Birmingham Mail.

Wimmer is allowed to leave Spurs after the confirmed signing of fellow defender Davinson Sanchez from Ajax for a club record £42m fee (BBC).

Kevin Wimmer of Tottenham Hotspur in action during a training session.

The 24-year old previously expressed his desire to stay in the English top flight if he were to leave Tottenham, telling Austrian publication Laola1: “It would be great to stay in Premier League. The league’s really cool and fits my style of play.”

Yet despite having a small squad at the Hawthorns, which is particularly sparse in defence, Baggies manager Pulis appears to be wary of new deals because he only wants players who are better than his current options.

“We have to bring in players that are going to improve us and give us competition; that’s what we need,” the Welshman said.

“They have to be better than what we’ve got – that’s the most important thing.

“In years gone by this club have signed a lot of players who have just been signed, I think, for the sake of filling spaces. We can’t do that and we must not do that.

“Even if it’s a smaller squad, we’ve got to have quality and we’ve got to have people who are going to improve the team, not just people who are going to join the back of the animal and take a ride.”

Tony Pulis, manager of West Bromwich Albion.

However, it would be harsh to say Wimmer would be signed simply for “the sake of filling spaces”, with the Austria international clearly a talented defender but has had limited game time in North London due to the presence of Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen – arguably two of the best centre-backs in the division.

Pulis is right to be cautious having made mistakes in the transfer market in the past, but with extortionate fees having been paid regularly this summer, West Brom are not going to find a better option at the back for £15m and the 59-year-old needs to hurry up and confirm the deal before another club swoops in.