West Brom: Will Keane transfer talk may be underwhelming, but the stats do not lie - View | OneFootball

The Baggies have made an enquiry over the striker, and he could be a shrewd addition this summer.

West Bromwich Albion have had a quiet transfer window, and fears over breaking financial rules have stopped the club from spending in the same manner that they have done in the past.

Torbjørn Heggem is the only signing that the Baggies have spent a fee on this summer, with the Norweigan centre-back moving to The Hawthorns from Swedish club IF Brommapojkarna for £525,000, according to Expressen.

The club are currently working under an EFL-imposed business plan with these financial concerns in mind, and will be limited in the transfers they can make with the window still open until August 30.

West Brom reported a loss of £11 million in the 2022/23 season, their second season back in the Championship following relegation, after making a profit of £5.4 million the year before. But, with worries that they have lost even more in 2023/24, Carlos Corberan has to be shrewd with his business.

With that in mind, a move for Will Keane from Preston North End could be an intelligent way to add experience to the squad without breaking the bank, although the Baggies have already had a bid turned down, as per the Lancashire Post.

West Brom fans must not write Will Keane off before he has even signed

When Keane's name is mentioned to avid watchers of the Championship, there tends to be a negative reaction, especially when you take his complete career into account.

However, the striker does have a decent record in recent times, hitting the back of the net with regularity since the start of the 2022-23 season.

Ssince August 2022, Keane has scored 25 goals in 82 second tier games - 12 with Wigan and 13 for North End - while also providing plenty of strikes in League One in 2021/22, helping Wigan to promotion by scoring 26 times as the Latics' leading man.

Keane's contract at Deepdale is due to run out in the summer of 2025, and with the Republic of Ireland international turning 32 next January, he could be a decent, cheap short-term option for West Brom - if PNE are willing to play ball with a sensible transfer fee.

It is not just his recent goal-scoring ability that has piqued the Baggies' interest. Keane's link-up play is vital to his game, and he made 444 successful passes last season for Preston, creating 14 chances - a quality that would be very much welcomed in the Black Country.

Will Keane's shooting stats show he may thrive in a more creative team

Although West Brom do have three senior strikers in their squad, Daryl Dike's long-term injury and Devante Cole's unproven nature at Championship level means that a player of Keane's ilk is needed.

And having featured in a Preston North End side who last season created the second-least big chances in the entire Championship, Keane did well to score his 13 goals, and it also suggested he is very clinical when handed his chances on a plate.

What also shows that when given opportunities, Keane takes them, is last season's divisional Shots per Goal stat, with FBref stating that Keane had the fourth-highest tally in the Championship with 0.28 shots for every goal scored - with only Mikey Johnston, Milutin Osmajic and Huddersfield defender Michal Helik bettering that.

There are multiple creative assets in West Brom's midfield and out wide, such as Tom Fellows, Jed Wallace, John Swift and Grady Diangana, and a player who showed he is clinical like Keane did for PNE last season would surely thrive off those chances created.

Carlos Corberan is a very smart manager, and is likely looking at the data to see where he can improve his squad, with an emphasis placed on value for money whilst the transfer budget is tight - Keane will show up well in that data because of what he took from the very little amount of chances created by North End last season.

Should the Baggies make a bid that is accepted for Keane at some point, then the Albion fanbase should get behind the veteran striker as a player that they could benefit an awful lot from, having crunched all the numbers from 2023-24.