West Brom & Leicester City have dodged same transfer bullet | OneFootball

The Baggies and Foxes will be relieved to have not sealed a deal for winger Josh Murphy last summer after an injury-ravaged campaign.

The threat of relegation looms over West Brom and Leicester City, with the duo staring down the barrel of League One football next season.

Not many could have predicted at the start of the campaign that both these teams would be involved at the bottom end of the table, with West Brom narrowly missing out on the play-offs last season, while Leicester were expected to push for an immediate return to the Premier League following relegation from the top-flight.

But both the Baggies and Foxes have been working amongst difficult financial backdrops. The Black Country outfit have been complying with the EFL to avoid breaking P&S rules, which meant they had to part ways with top talents like Torbjorn Heggem and Tom Fellows this summer, but their inability to replace them has meant the team has struggled to fire at the top end of the pitch and contributed to their demise.

Meanwhile, Leicester were deducted six points by the EFL after the club was originally charged by the Premier League in May for a PSR breach in the three years up to 2023-24.

However, that is still in the balance, with both the Premier League and Leicester appealing the decision, which could see the deduction reversed or increased, having a massive impact on their Championship survival hopes.

While both teams will be battling and scraping to get over one another to secure their Championship skins, they will take comfort together that they avoided swooping in and securing a move for Portsmouth winger Josh Murphy.

The 31-year-old was one of the standout wingers in the second-tier last season when producing a joint-highest 14 assists, but after an injury-ravaged campaign this time around, Leicester and West Brom firmly dodged a bullet.

Josh Murphy’s disappointing 2025-26 campaign

After the conclusion of the 2024-25 term, Josh Murphy looked to be one of the most sought-after Championship stars following a phenomenal season.

The 31-year-old had registered seven goals and 14 assists at Fratton Park to keep Pompey in the second-tier, with the latter a joint-highest league total with then West Brom winger Tom Fellows, highlighting the immense impact he had on the South Coast.

To no surprise, Championship sides who were expected to be positioned towards the top end of the table were entering the race for his signature.

The interest from both Leicester and West Brom came on deadline day of the summer transfer window, with journalist Darren Witcoop reporting that the Foxes’ original bid had been turned down by Portsmouth, while the Baggies had also entered the race and were considering a last-gasp move.

However, the deal didn’t materialise, with Murphy remaining at Fratton Park to the delight of the Portsmouth faithful.

But Pompey retaining their most potent attacker hasn’t worked out the way they would have liked, with Murphy being ravaged by injuries that have disrupted his campaign.

The wideman has featured just 14 times all season, with his last game for the club coming towards the end of December against Derby County.

And while it was a hamstring issue that initially forced him into the treatment room, it emerged that he was also nursing a foot injury.

It had been revealed that Murphy had been playing on a fractured foot and received a number of injections to represent the club.

Murphy has since had a scan on the fractured metatarsal in his right foot, and it has not healed as quickly as they had hoped, with him now ruled out for the remainder of the season.

It’s definitely a bitter pill to swallow for Portsmouth, who have missed their starman for too many games and may have been in a better position by offloading him last summer, at the expense of West Brom or Leicester City.

West Brom and Leicester City will be relieved to see Josh Murphy injury struggles after failed summer swoops

You could definitely see at the time why the likes of West Brom and Leicester City were interested in Josh Murphy, who added directness, pace and pinpoint crossing accuracy to set up his teammates with opportunities.

He’d have definitely been a top-class addition for those two sides in the Championship, but unfortunately, his injury struggles have prevented him from building on an excellent last campaign.

From West Brom and Leicester’s perspective, they will be delighted that Murphy hasn’t been able to get on the pitch regularly for a Championship rival, while they could have been spending vital financial resources on a player who has consistently occupied the treatment table.

It was the last thing either side would have needed when involved in a relegation battle, and while both teams haven’t got much right on or off the pitch, they at least didn’t have an injury-ridden Murphy on their books, who would have commanded sizeable wages for a Championship club to pay.