West Brom can take advantage of 'bizarre' situation to complete double transfer

From Albion to the Albion.

Matt Clarke and Jayson Molumby both trod the same path last summer from Brighton to West Brom, two of many loan ranger Seagulls who flew their nest on the south coast ahead of the 2021-22 season in the hunt for regular first-team football. Both had experience of Championship loan spells previously; in the case of Clarke, it was two years with Derby. Molumby had been to both Preston North and End and Millwall during his previous second tier stints.

Clarke hit the ground running, as Albion as a whole did, under Valerien Ismael. He looked the part on the left hand side of the back three, the left foot to bring ample balance to the back-line and who displayed composure in abundance with the ball and calmness in the face of an attacking threat.

As Tony Bomber Brown has often said this season, Clarke is exactly the sort of defender he’d have hated to face up against as a forward player. He’s tall, fearless, aerially excellent and composed with and without the ball. He immediately looked an excellent addition to the host of centre half options already at the club.

Like many Albion players, Clarke had suffered a mid winter slump in form. His role in the back three has been disrupted; sometimes he’s had to fill into the middle of the three, and when Steve Bruce arrived the back three was occasionally done away with entirely.

Still, there have been games, even in defeat, where he’s stood out. At Luton, at QPR even, Clarke has been the pick on otherwise dreadful afternoons for the club. The end of his loan spell at The Hawthorns is nigh, but what chance do Albion have of bringing him back in the summer on a permanent basis, should they wish?

Clarke, still only 25, has just a year left on his Brighton