West Bromwich Albion's James Morrison Optimistic About New Signings

West Bromwich Albion boss James Morrison says he is “hopeful” of adding more faces before the transfer window closes, with the club on the brink of sealing a permanent deal for Manchester United midfielder Toby Collyer.

Albion have been in negotiations with United to bring Collyer back after his loan spell in the first half of last season and are now poised to complete a move worth up to £7.6m. It would be a significant outlay for a Championship side, and another clear sign that Albion intend to stay near the top of the division.

Tunde brings pace – and a different dimension

While Collyer edges closer, Morrison has already started working with another new arrival, Spanish winger Kareem Tunde, who joined from Levante this week.

“It's a big opportunity for him, coming to a new culture, still only being 21,” Morrison told BBC Radio WM. “He's an exciting prospect and an exciting player, so we're delighted to have him.

“It just gives us different options now and I felt like we've always missed that little bit in games where we could stretch our opposition and he's got that pace and power that we've been looking for.”

Tunde becomes Albion’s eighth signing of the summer. Even so, Morrison is not treating that as the end of the rebuild with the 1 September deadline looming.

“I am hopeful,” he said when asked about more business. “There's been a lot of hard work been going on behind the scenes. We have to do things a little bit differently, we have to be clever about it and I felt that we've been doing that because we've had a lot of signings.”

Flying start, tougher tests

Morrison’s reshaped squad has hit the ground running. Two wins from two in the Championship have injected early optimism around The Hawthorns, but the schedule now throws up a fixture heavy with personal meaning for the head coach.

Next up are last season’s beaten play-off finalists Middlesbrough on Saturday – Morrison’s hometown club and the place where he began his playing career.

“I've been back many times and played, so I'm over that,” he said. “I can remember my first one going back and I was all over the place, I was terrible. So I learnt from that experience.

“I think my last time there as a player, I ended up scoring and I still remember that feeling. So I'm really looking forward to the game, but also I know this is going to be one of the toughest away fixtures we'll face.

“But they've [the Albion players] set a standard now and they can't let it drop.”