West Brom chairman blames Pulis for transfer failures

Mark Scott
Tony Pulis: Very selective and particular

Tony Pulis: Very selective and particular

West Brom chairman John Williams has said a “very selective and particular” Tony Pulis is the reason why two transfer targets were missed.

The Baggies added five new faces to the squad before the transfer deadline, but saw a club-record move for Ignacio Camacho fall through and then there was not enough time to seal a deal for Sporting CP midfielder William Carvalho.

In a statement issued on the West Brom website, Williams gave the impression that Pulis’ strict transfer guidelines prevented the Midlands club from making at least one statement signing.

“Our head coach Tony Pulis is very selective and particular about the players he recruits so it follows that the new team members will add significantly to his first-team options,” it read.

“Tony wanted five and we got five. That having been said, the one disappointment we suffered was not being able to add a further quality midfield player.

“We were a long way down the road with a deal, which for the second time in the window would have broken the club transfer record, thanks to the on-going support of Jeremy Peace and Guochuan Lai.

“But it was decided for footballing reasons not to pursue this. Despite it being late in the window, we decided to pursue another high-quality target. Unfortunately, we were not able to get the deal over the line.

“However, it does mean we can re-group if a suitable new deal presents itself in January when we will be ready to act.

“It has been an extremely difficult market, but we’ve ticked some of our boxes.”