Valerien Ismael confirms Andy Carroll signing & West Brom debut hope

Valerien Ismael is hopeful that Andy Carroll’s signing can be finalised in time for West Brom’s trip to Millwall on Saturday.

Experienced forward Carroll, who left Reading earlier this month, is set to complete a deal until the end of the season as Albion move to acquire a short-term replacement for the injured Daryl Dike.

He was having a medical on Friday morning and was all set to sign on the dotted line ahead of the 12pm deadline in order to pull on an Albion shirt for the very first time at The Den.

Carroll, formerly of Newcastle, Liverpool and West Ham, has scored seven goals against the Baggies in his career and now he’s being tasked with banging them in for Ismael.

“He’s having a medical. We can’t confirm officially, but we are confident he can sign today. We expect the green light,” the manager confirmed. “Dike is the long term solution, our number nine. We had ten games, eight weeks out, a lot of points. My staff and the board sat and analysed the situation.

“It needed to be short term. Could they have the impact we expect? We saw against Peterborough, he got five chances to score, Dike. You see how important it was to get the target guy in.

“Carroll played there with Reading, he scored two goals. He has experience and he can help us with what we need in the opponent box at the minute.”

Being a manager who wants intensity and high pressing from his players - certainly now more than ever with Ismael planning a reset after a recent dreadful run of form and an abandonment of those traits - Carroll wouldn’t immediately spring to mind as a viable option, but what he will bring Ismael values.

“I’m not concerned. January is not easy to find the players. We have followed his performances with Reading, you see that