West Bromwich Albion boss Steve Bruce announced that he would be releasing Andy Carroll to give outcast forward Kenneth Zohore a chance to shine in the first team next season, making this revelation to the Express and Star.

This announcement may come as a surprise to some supporters who previously would have thought they had seen the last of the Dane in an Albion shirt after failing to live up to expectations at The Hawthorns.

First arriving from Cardiff City in 2019, the 28-year-old was expected to be a key man in the West Midlands, but this move failed to work out for the best and he was even loaned out to Millwall last season, though Gary Rowett's men opted against making this deal a permanent agreement.

In fairness, he only scored three goals in 19 appearances for the Lions, not exactly the sort of record that would earn him a move to The Den and this is why it was no surprise to see him return to the Baggies at the end of last season.

Unfortunately, he was unable to make that much of an impact under Valerien Ismael either, making just three senior appearances and failing to score in any, perhaps the main reason why he was relegated to the club's Under-23s.

With a fresh chance to shine in pre-season though, he will be keen to make the most of what will be his last opportunity to shine at The Hawthorns and with the club unlikely to make a huge amount of money from his sale considering he has just one year left on his contract, some people would argue that they may as well use him.

However, if an offer does come in, they need to take it under serious consideration because he isn't likely to be on a modest wage after signing for a deal thought to be worth in the region of £8m.

With this in mind, he isn't the sort of player they will be wanting on their wage bill with the need for Albion to adapt financially from the top flight to the second tier. He isn't even providing value for money, one justification that could have been used in a case for keeping him if he was.

And after spending a reported £7m on Daryl Dike, the need to get his salary off their books has probably been heightened, though officials at The Hawthorns must be happy to keep hold of him if Bruce is thinking about re-integrating the forward back into the first team.

Regardless of whether they cash in on Zohore or not, they need new players to come in as they look to shake up their squad, so that wage being wiped off their costs could make a difference in terms of the number of players they are able to bring in and the terms they will be able to offer of those players.

So even if the Dane leaves for a nominal fee, the Baggies should be prepared to sell.