West Bromwich Albion loanee Ahmed Hegazi is attracting attention from their Premier League rivals Liverpool and Leicester City.
When the transfer window closed in the summer, West Brom fans would have been forgiven for thinking that the best loan deal the club pulled off during the previous months would undoubtedly prove to be the one that saw Grzegorz Krychowiak arrive at The Hawthorns from Paris Saint-Germain.
Krychowiak may well turn his fortunes around, but he has so far been overshadowed by another loanee during the opening months of the season, defender Ahmed Hegazi.
Signing Hegazi seemed to be a gamble given his previous spell in Europe – where he made just four appearances for Fiorentina across a three season spell – but the centre-back has done well so far, proving to be an integral member of the squad under former boss Tony Pulis.
According to ESPN, the loan deal that saw Hegazi arrive from Al Ahly included a clause that would allow the Baggies to make the deal permanent for £4.4 million, which would undoubtedly be a bargain given how well he has done so far.
It would have been no surprise if West Brom did look to activate that clause, but perhaps they may have to now do it much sooner than they expected.
Therefore, perhaps it would be fair to suggest that Hegazi has suddenly become new West Brom boss Alan Pardew’s number one priority for the January window to ensure that they shut the door on the chance of losing him to one of their top flight rivals.
Replacing the 26-year-old will be a tough ask, especially if the Baggies try and do it for the price that they could sign Hegazi for, so they should try and remove any opportunity for another side to swoop in by moving as soon as the window opens.
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