West Brom might have just alerted Birmingham City to dream Championship transfer
David Brooks has 12 months to run on his contract at Premier League side Bournemouth
The reported availability of David Brooks should send Championship clubs into a transfer frenzy.
Wales international Brooks, now 27, has rebooted his career in the past two years after overcoming Hodgkin’s lymphoma and helped Bournemouth achieve their best-ever Premier League points tally last season.
But he only started nine Premier League games for the Cherries and reports suggest he could wind up in the Championship again this summer.
Only 12 months ago Brooks helped Southampton return to the top flight via the Championship play-offs, with two goals and six assists coming in his 20 outings for the Saints.
West Bromwich Albion are the first team to be credited with an interest in Brooks but that is likely to multiply in the coming weeks.
And it begs the question as to whether Birmingham City should join the conversation.
There is no doubt that Brooks, a left-footed right-winger who does most of his damage inverting into a number 10 position, would be perfect for Chris Davies’ system.
Davies favours a winger of Brooks’ profile on the right to allow right-back Ethan Laird to bomb on and provide the width.
Blues are in the market for that type of winger having lost Kieran Dowell and all but aborted a bid to sign Kwame Poku at the end of his Peterborough United contract.
St Andrew’s saw what Brooks is capable of in the Championship in March last year when he inspired Southampton to a dramatic 4-3 victory.
Not only did Brooks show his creative powers with a wonderfully weighted pass to set up Adam Armstrong, he showed a touch of Premier League class with a whipped finish into the bottom corner from 20 yards shortly after half-time.
Davies has talked about Blues needing to ‘cause chaos’ in the final third and Brooks is a player capable of doing that.
So, if Bournemouth are to let him leave, Blues shouldn’t give Albion a free run at him.
Former West Brom chief lands Everton role
Former Albion technical director Nick Hammond has landed a new job at Everton as part of the Premier League club’s off-field restructure.
Hammond spent more than two years with the Baggies between 2016 and 2018, before being sacked with the club on the brink of relegation from the Premier League.
Previously director of football at Reading, Hammond took most of the flak for the disastrous appointment of Alan Pardew in November, 2017, following Tony Pulis’ departure as head coach.
Hammond spent more than two years with the Baggies between 2016 and 2018, before being sacked with the club on the brink of relegation from the Premier League.
Previously director of football at Reading, Hammond took most of the flak for the disastrous appointment of Alan Pardew in November, 2017, following Tony Pulis’ departure as head coach.
He has since worked as head of football operations at Celtic, before later acting as a transfer consultant to both Leeds and Newcastle.
Hammond is joining Everton to lead the club’s player trading activity, working under Toffees new technical director Nick Cox who has left his role as Manchester United’s academy boss.
Everton, who move to their new 60,000-seater stadium at the start of the season, are also hiring Manchester City’s director of scouting and recruitment, Chris Howarth, to take up the same role with them.
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