West Brom explore the option of signing Tottenham player that's been thriving in the EFL | OneFootball

West Bromwich Albion have expressed their interest in taking the Spurs forward Jamie Donley at The Hawthorns on loan.

West Bromwich Albion have expressed an interest in Jamie Donley, who has been on a season-long loan at Leyton Orient in League One from Tottenham Hotspur.

20-year-old Donley signed his first professional contract with Spurs in January 2022. After spending the 2023/24 season on the fringes of their squad and making three Premier League appearances for them, he extended his contract to 2027 and went on a season-long loan to Leyton Orient in August 2024. He has scored eight goals and created 10 assists in League One as the Os secured a play-off place by finishing sixth in the table.

West Brom eyeing Jamie Donley

West Bromwich Albion are reported by Birmingham World to have sent an enquiry to the North London giants over his availability after having finished their season in ninth place in the Championship this season. Donley has impressed at Leyton Orient during his first full season of first-team league football.

The Baggies have a bit of form for bringing in young players on loan from Spurs. At the end of the January transfer window, they took Will Lankshear on loan, and he made 11 appearances for them over the second half of the season.

Donley has had an excellent first full season at Orient

Donley made national headlines with his sensational shot from fifty yards out against Manchester City in the FA Cup Third Round in January, even though the goal itself was awarded as an own goal against the City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega after the ball bounced down off the crossbar and in off the back of his head. After that match, Pep Guardiola described him as an "incredible talent".

It's also worth noting that his first goal for Orient didn't come until the 16th December against Barnsley, meaning that his eight goals came over the course of little more than half a season rather than the whole of it. He was also awarded the EFL's Young Player of the Month award for January 2025.

West Bromwich Albion are in need of an attacking refresh

After a 2023/24 season during which a takeover of the club was confirmed, and which ended with West Brom finishing fifth in the table before losing in the play-offs to Southampton, there had been optimism that 2024/25 could see the club regain a place in the Premier League, where they last competed in 2020/21.

But things didn't work out that way. A good start to the season put them top of the table by the middle of September, but a run of one win in 13 games from the end of September on - including a remarkable ten draws, divided into runs of six in a row and four in a row - saw them drop out of the play-off places by the middle of December.

Manager Carlos Corberan (pictured) left the club for Valencia on Christmas Eve, with Tony Mowbray replacing him. Mowbray was also sacked in April, following a run of five losses in six games. They finished the season in ninth, four points short of securing a play-off place.

The big problem for West Brom, as with so many others in the Championship during the 2024/25 season, was a lack of goals. The 57 they ended up scoring wasn't as low a number as some of the other clubs around them in the table managed, but it was still notable that of the ten games they drew between October and December, five of them were goalless while a further three finished 1-1.

It might only have taken a handful of those games to be won for the club's final League position to have ended up looking different indeed. A failure to kill games off ultimately hit West Brom hard.

Lankshear may have arrived from Spurs in January and played 11 games for them, but he didn't score once. Top scorer Josh Maja scored 12 in 26, but he was injured for the rest of the season in January. Other than Maja, no-one could manage more than seven in the League all season.

If Donley can add to West Brom's goal tally next time around - and he is an extremely talented young player - their chances of doing better next season could be greatly improved.