Why West Brom transfer move for Crystal Palace player will be huge relief for Isaac Price | OneFootball

The imminent arrival of Danny Imray should allow Isaac Price to get back to his best in an attacking midfield role.

With West Brom in the midst of a relegation battle, the remainder of the winter transfer window is pivotal to the Baggies bolstering key areas of the squad to push them up the table in the coming months.

It’s been a tough start to life in The Hawthorns dugout for Eric Ramsay, who is yet to secure a victory in his first three league games as boss.

Transitioning away from the Ryan Mason era, the Welshman has had very little time on the training pitch to implement his ideas given the relentless scheduling of games, with his Baggies side playing all of Middlesbrough, Norwich City and Derby County in the space of nine days.

The Black Country outfit showed some promising signs against Boro after fighting from two goals down to level up the contest, but suffered a sucker punch deep into stoppage time through Delano Burgzorg’s strike.

But then any optimism was extinguished when Albion delivered one of the worst performances in the club’s history, going down 5-0 at home to the Canaries and shipping five goals in a second-tier game for the first time since 1999.

And it looked to be heading to three straight defeats under the new boss at Pride Park, but defender Chris Mepham delivered a last-gasp equaliser that earned a well-deserved point and could be the goal that turns their campaign around.

Before the 2nd February deadline for the transfer window, Albion have been scrambling around for deals as they look to give Ramsay enough tools to deliver Championship safety.

And one of those arrivals could be in the right-wing-back position, with Crystal Palace’s Danny Imray looking set to join the Baggies on loan for the remainder of the season, after spending the first half of this campaign at League One outfit Blackpool.

With Imray on the verge of arriving and earning a starting spot straight away, it will be able to free up Isaac Price back into a midfield role, after the Northern Ireland international looked so uncomfortable in the past couple of weeks away from his natural position.

This could hopefully spark an upturn in his form too, with the Baggies needing every player at their best to get them out of the mess they currently find themselves in.

West Brom’s issues at right-wing back under Eric Ramsay

From the get-go, Eric Ramsay has looked to play a 5-4-1 setup with his West Brom squad, with an emphasis on wing-backs to support the attacks and give the team some added dynamism in the final third.

Unfortunately, for much of Ramsay’s early reign, he hasn’t had the right profile of players in the positions to make a full impact.

As he arrived into the club, Albion were stretched for options in midfield. They were contending with injuries to key duo Alex Mowatt and Jayson Molumby, while Ousmane Diakite was away from the club on compassionate leave following a family bereavement.

This meant usual defender Callum Styles was being utilised in midfield for the Baggies, with Samuel Iling-Junior filling in at left-wing back, while there was a real conundrum of who could fill in on the opposite flank.

Against Middlesbrough, Mikey Johnston was played in the role, but he looked far from comfortable when marauding up and down the flank between offensive and defensive duties, and that experiment was scrapped in the second half, then headed up by club captain Jed Wallace.

But the former Millwall man wasn't fit enough to start against the Canaries or Derby, meaning Isaac Price was unexpectedly thrown into the role, and it went exactly as expected, with the midfielder failing to slot in and look accomplished when his best position is playing behind the lone frontman.

However, with Danny Imray looking set to walk into the Albion building, the Baggies may finally believe they’ve sourced a replacement for Darnell Furlong, with the Crystal Palace defender thriving on getting into advanced positions and making things happen after being given the license to do so under Ian Evatt at Blackpool.

This helped Imray register four goal contributions across 13 games in his brief stint in Lancashire, with the 22-year-old already fancied by the Eagles to make his mark in the second-tier for the remainder of the campaign.

Danny Imray signing will allow Isaac Price to get back to his best

With West Brom set to bolster such a key position to their system, it will now allow the likes of Isaac Price to get back to familiar surroundings in midfield.

While Price has drawn fierce and justified criticism from Albion supporters for his lack of consistency this season, there’s no doubt that he is at his most dangerous when playing in the middle of the park, with all of his six goals and two assists arriving when utilised in his proper position.

He was also very impressive in the second half against Middlesbrough when the Baggies staged their comeback. Price sat back in midfield, acting as a deep-lying playmaker, and was able to get on the ball, transition it quickly and keep the team ticking over, which really suited the technical skills he possesses.

He also scored a sublime free-kick from the edge of the box too, so it is food for thought for Ramsay about whether he could play Price as a six and allow someone like Jayson Molumby to rampage forward and add those much-needed energy levels.

Regardless of the role, Price needs to get back to playing in midfield and doing what he does best, and hopefully, when Danny Imray’s signing is announced, that is what can materialise and be a big factor in pushing the club away from the dreaded relegation trapdoor.