This article is part of Football League World’s ‘The Verdict‘ series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

West Bromwich Albion are actively trying to pursue a new striker this summer to bolster Valerien Ismael's options for the 2021-22 Championship season.

The Frenchman plays with a front three - at Barnsley that generally included a trio of out-and-out strikers but with options at the Baggies limited, Karlan Grant was joined by natural wide players Grady Diangana and Callum Robinson against AFC Bournemouth.

It was actually Robinson who played through the middle instead of Grant at Dean Court, and he repaid Ismael's faith with a second half equaliser.

There was an appearance off the bench as well for the only other natural senior striking option in Kenneth Zohore, who cost £8 million from Cardiff City in 2019 but played just 17 times for West Brom in his debut season, before going out on loan to Millwall in 2020-21.

Ismael having the likes of Liam Delap and Daryl Dike on his shortlist means that Zohore is surely set to slip down the pecking order at The Hawthorns, but should the Baggies be trying to sell him or should he be an option? The FLW team have had their say...

Jordan Rushworth

This is a difficult one for West Brom because Kenneth Zohore does have the potential to play an important role for them in their quest to earn promotion back to the Premier League this season.

That is something he proved during his time at Cardiff City when he chipped in with nine goals in their 2017/18 promotion-winning campaign.

However, Zohore is still struggling for regular game time this season despite the Baggies only really having Callum Robinson and Karlan Grant to call upon as alternatives to him upfront.

That suggests that he is going to find game time very challenging during the rest of the season.

West Brom you feel are going to have to add at least one more striker to their squad before the transfer window closes.

That would potentially push Zohore out of even his small cameo role within the squad.

If that is to be the case and they do first bring in another forward, then West Brom should be prepared to allow Zohore to leave the club so that he can get some more game time elsewhere.

 

 

 

 

George Harbey

I think they should probably look to sell in order to fund a move for someone like Daryl Dike.

It just hasn’t worked out for Zohore at West Brom. His goal record was decent at Cardiff before his move to the Hawthorns, but he hasn’t been able to replicate that form for the Baggies.

He failed to set the world alight at Millwall, too, and I just think a fresh start and a permanent move away is what’s needed for the Dane.

If they can get him off the wage bill and get some sort of fee for him, then every little helps, and I think someone like Dike, who Ismael knows well, would suit them a lot more.

Phil Spencer

I certainly think that West Bromwich Albion should be keeping hold of Kenneth Zohore.

The striker has endured a frustrating few years after really bursting onto the scene with Cardiff City five years ago.

While Zohore has been far from prolific of late, I still think that he would be a good option for the Baggies.

Valerien Ismael wants his team to play with a big, powerful presence in attack and it seems only right that they'll be looking for someone to be their first choice striker.

However with the attributes that the 27-year-old brings to the group I still think that he'll have a big role to play if West Brom are to compete over a 46-game season.