West Brom are reportedly interested in a deal to sign Aston Villa midfielder Conor Hourihane, according to The Athletic. 

Hourihane has been with Villa since 2017, having signed for the club after catching the eye with some strong performances for Barnsley earlier in his career.

He has made 150 appearances in total for Aston Villa, which includes playing an important role in their promotion-winning season in 2018/19.

But he has found consistent minutes hard to find in recent seasons, and the Irish international moved to Swansea City in search of regular game time in the second-half of the 2020/21 campaign.

He made a positive impact with the Swans, scoring five goals, whilst being on hand to provide two assists in total for Steve Cooper's side, as they narrowly missed out on promotion into the Premier League, after a defeat to Brentford in the Championship play-off final at Wembley.

West Brom will be looking to win promotion back into the Premier League at the first time of asking this term, and are reportedly rivalling Sheffield United to a potential deal for Hourihane.

We take a look at ONE winner and ONE loser at West Brom if they were to secure a deal to sign Hourihane this summer.

Winner: Karlan Grant 

It's not been the start to life with West Brom that Grant would have hoped for, after signing from Huddersfield Town back in October 2020.

He made 21 appearances in all competitions last term for the Baggies, but only found the back of the net on one occasion, which doesn't make for the best of reading.

But with regular game time more likely this season in the Championship, he could be the player that thrives with a player with the creative ability that Hourihane has in his locker providing him with the ideal service to score goals on a consistent basis for Valerien Ismael's side.

Loser: Jake Livermore 

The Baggies midfielder could be the player that drops out of the starting XI if Hourihane was to arrive at the Hawthorns this summer.

Livermore only made 19 appearances in total for West Brom's first-team last season, as they were relegated into the Championship after just one season back in the top-flight.

Hourihane has shown in the past that he can perform to a high standard in the second tier of English football, and you would imagine that his potential arrival would push Livermore further down the pecking order, with it being highly unlikely that Romaine Sawyers would be the player to drop out of the starting XI.