The Express & Star journalist Luke Hatfield thinks West Brom striker Jordan Hugill has failed to live up to expectations since joining the club.
The 29-year-old arrived at the Hawthorns on a season-long loan from Norwich in August, but has looked off the pace in the opening months of the current campaign.
How has Hugill fared at West Brom?
After signing with West Brom towards the end of latest transfer window, Hugill has featured in all 12 of the Championship fixtures that he has been available for.
However, only five of those appearances have been starts, as he has been unable to cement his place in Valerien Ismael's team.
Part of the reason behind this may be his underwhelming goal return. Hugill has only scored once for the Baggies, which came against Bristol City last month.
Having started the final two matches of October, he was dropped to the bench for West Brom's most recent outing, when they returned to winning ways by beating Hull City 1-0 on Wednesday night.
What has Hatfield said about Hugill?
According to Hatfield, Hugill's time at West Brom has not been a complete disaster, as he did play well when he got his maiden goal against the Robins.
Still, he has claimed that the forward, who is valued at £1.8m by Transfermarkt, is not clinical enough in front of goal.
When asked if West Brom may be looking to upgrade on Hugill in January, Hatfield told GIVEMESPORT: “Yeah, I think so. Hugill’s come in and he did well against Bristol City, but he’s left something to be desired in other games.
“He could have scored more against Bristol City. He doesn’t seem like a prime chance taker, which is what they need. They need someone who’s not going to be there to help others get into the game, they need someone who’s purely there to score the goals.”
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Do West Brom need to sign a prolific striker in January?
Only three sides have found the net more often than West Brom in the Championship this season, and two of those, Bournemouth and QPR, have scored just one more goal than Ismael's men.
This suggests that scoring goals is not a major issue for the side at the moment.
Yet, one goal for Hugill is disappointing, and the Midlands-based team have been very reliant on Karlan Grant this term. He has netted eight times, while no other player in the team has scored on more than three occasions.
If West Brom are going to gain promotion in May, they need to share the goalscoring load more, and Ismael may feel that they way to do this is to bring in an extra striker when the transfer window opens at the start of 2022.
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