Exclusive: West Brom plotting transfer swoop for Sunderland promotion-winner | OneFootball

New Baggies boss Eric Ramsay is keen to strengthen his goalkeeping department before the transfer window closes

Struggling West Brom are eyeing up a new goalkeeper for the remainder of the season, Football League World understands, as new head coach Eric Ramsay attempts to find a formula capable of turning the club's fortunes around.

The Baggies dispensed of the services of Ryan Mason far earlier than anyone could've imagined, having won just one game in five prior to his dismissal by the club's hierarchy, and they swiftly moved for Welsh coach Ramsay, plucking him from MLS outfit Minnesota United after spending a two-year stint in the USA.

It's been a nightmare start to life in the Midlands for the 34-year-old though, losing his debut match 3-2 at home to Middlesbrough, before seeing his side humiliated 5-0 by Norwich City at The Hawthorns on Tuesday night - a result which leaves Albion just three points above the relegation zone of the Championship.

West Brom eyeing up loan move for Sunderland's Anthony Patterson

West Brom may need to add a number of players to their squad before the transfer window closes on February 2, and FLW can exclusively reveal that one individual on their radar is Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson, who the club are plotting a loan move for until the end of the season.

Albion have never replaced Alex Palmer in-between the sticks after selling him to Ipswich Town nearly a year ago, with Josh Griffiths and Joe Wildsmith battling it out for the starting jersey ever since.

As far as 2025-26 Championship appearances go, Griffiths has won that battle, with the 24-year-old starting 21 times under Mason and Ramsay, with Wildsmith keeping goal for a seven-match stint in December and at the start of January, but it appears that Ramsay wants to go in a different direction.

And he will look to solve the goalkeeper puzzle with a move for Patterson, who has fallen out of favour at the Stadium of Light under Regis Le Bris thanks to the summer arrival of Dutch stopper Robin Roefs.

Since being handed the starting gloves by Alex Neil at the back end of Sunderland's 2021-22 League One promotion-winning season, academy graduate Patterson was the Black Cats' first-choice goalkeeper up until the end of 2024-25, which culminated in winning promotion to the Premier League at Wembley in the Championship play-off final.

25-year-old Patterson has appeared just once though this season, which came in an EFL Cup defeat at home by League One side Huddersfield Town, and he looks unlikely to add to his 169 Sunderland outings anytime soon thanks to the presence of Roefs, who has been somewhat of a revelation in England's top flight.

It is unclear as to whether Sunderland would sanction a temporary exit for Patterson - who is contracted until the summer of 2028 on Wearside - for the remainder of the season, which would leave Le Bris with Roefs, the experienced Simon Moore and a number of players in the under-21's squad if a replacement was not landed, but West Brom firmly have him on their radar with less than two weeks to go in the transfer window.

West Brom meanwhile are yet to make a breakthrough in the transfer window, but they will look to do so with Patterson, as Ramsay looks for solutions to fix his ailing Baggies.