Why West Brom should try and win the race for Hamza Choudhury
According to the Daily Mail, West Brom are among three Premier League clubs offered the chance to sign out-of-favour Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury on loan in the January transfer window.
Southampton and Newcastle are also understood to be weighing up loan moves for the 23-year-old. Choudhury has found regular minutes hard to come by at the King Power Stadium this term, starting just once in the Premier League for the Foxes so far.
Newcastle manager Steve Bruce is understood to be a fan of Choudhury but new Baggies boss Sam Allardyce also wants to bring in a new central midfielder to bolster his squad this month. The former England U-21 international is currently down the pecking order at Leicester and it has been claimed that Brendan Rodgers will consider loan offers for the academy graduate. (h/t Daily Mail)
Choudhury rose through the youth ranks of Leicester and furthered his development on loan at Burton Albion in League One and the Championship. He eventually made his first-team debut for the Foxes in the Premier League during the 2017-18 season and featured regularly as a key squad player over the past couple of campaigns.
However, the homegrown star has struggled for game time under Rodgers this term, with most of his involvement coming in the group stages of the Europa League. Choudhury has played a meagre 70 minutes of league football for the Foxes so far, making a loan exit in January likely to materialise.
Putting things into context, West Brom should go all out to secure a loan deal for Hamza Choudhury in the winter market. The former England youth international boasts of some decent top-flight experience under his belt and could be a real asset to the Baggies in their fight against relegation.
West Brom sank deeper into relegation trouble following their recent 4-0 humiliation at the hands of Arsenal on Saturday night. The Baggies have managed only a solitary win from 17 games so far, leaving them 19th in the standings, six points adrift of safety. With just 11 goals scored and 39 conceded, it’s clear that they need significant improvement at both ends of the pitch to climb up the table in the coming months.
While bringing in reinforcements up top and at the back should be high on the club’s agenda, the arrival of Choudhury on loan would surely go a long way towards strengthening West Brom’s midfield. The likes of Romaine Sawyers and Jake Livermore were quite brilliant in the Championship last season but neither has managed to make a significant impact in the top-flight so far.
With Filip Krovinovic also struggling for game time, Choudhury would represent an ideal partner for Chelsea loanee Conor Gallagher in the middle. Gallagher has shown real quality at the Hawthorns and teaming him up with an all-action box-to-box enforcer like Choudhury would surely improve West Brom’s quality in the midfield.
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Verdict
All in all, it should be an absolute no-brainer for West Brom to snap up Hamza Choudhury on loan this month if he is, indeed, made available by Leicester City. The 23-year-old’s chances of playing regularly certainly look better at the Hawthorns, thus making a temporary switch a fair settlement for all parties involved.
