West Brom manager Carlos Corberan has admitted Luton Town’s bid to sign goalkeeper Alex Palmer hasn’t arrived at the most ideal time with the start of the season less than a week away.
The Express and Star reported on 29 July that the Premier League side’s offer, which is believed to be more than £2.5million, hasn’t been accepted by the Baggies yet.
But the 26-year-old wasn’t involved in Albion’s 4-3 defeat in a friendly to Bolton on 29 July, with Corberan admitting the club is now deciding whether or not to accept the offer.
“With Alex, the club has received an offer and now it’s in the moment to evaluate the offer, for Alex and the club and to see if it’s something positive for the club and keeper, or something that is not positive,” he said in quotes reported by the Express and Star. “Right now, it’s best to play the players you know that are going to stay and play with the play with the players not involved in this mental process.
“I’m out of the process of negotiations so I don’t know, I only know that the club received the offer, that contact has been made with the club. Now it’s time to evaluate the offer, but that is out of my responsibility – my responsibility is with the team, to understand the moments we must play better in order to start the season the way I want us to.
“100 per cent agree (not ideal timing). We know that the market, when you don’t control it the way you want… you have two positions in the market, you can be proactive or reactive. This is a situation that I didn’t expect but it happens in football. When it does we must show the right reaction when those circumstances appear.
“I don’t really want to talk about things that haven’t yet happened – not only this but in general because I think the season arrives after the decision has been made. Alex is a West Bromwich player and until that situation changes, my mind won’t change.”
A blow
It will be a serious blow for the club to lose their first-choice keeper with the new Championship season now less than a week away.
Although Corberan admitted that he isn’t actively involved in the discussions around whether or not to accept the bid from Luton, he will be keen for a decision to be made on Palmer’s future as quickly as possible so he can potentially prepare for life without him.
It really comes down to how desperately do the club need the money to allow the keeper to leave because, in this day and age, that isn’t an awful lot of cash to be receiving for a starting player.
After nailing down a place in the team under Corberan last season, Palmer made 25 appearances across the campaign, where he kept 11 clean sheets and conceded just 23 goals.
He will have been very much in the manager’s plans for the upcoming season, but it now looks extremely likely that he will be leaving the club for a relatively modest fee in the coming days.
