West Brom: Celtic deal should be Carlos Corberan blueprint in winter window | OneFootball

The Baggies could do with another injection of goals this season

Short-term loan deals always have the potential to provide a much-needed boost to clubs struggling for goals, but few go quite as well as Mikey Johnston’s switch to West Brom did earlier in 2024.

The winger arrived on a temporary deal at the Hawthorns in January of the 2023/24 season and quickly set about making an impact on the side.

So great was his impact that he tempted the Baggies to go back in for him in the summer, this time on a permanent deal.

With the club struggling for goals in the 2024/25 campaign, they’ll hope manager Carlos Corberan can recreate his signing in January.

Mikey Johnston quickly made a strong impact at West Brom

Johnston was far from the first name on the teamsheet at Celtic Park despite always looking a promising player, and a move away in January 2024 looked to be calling.

He landed at The Hawthorns, with West Brom looking for a boost to their goalscoring record, and the two parties could scarcely have hit it off better.

Inside his first ten appearances for the Baggies, he already had six goals and an assist.

His scoring slowed towards the end of the season, but Johnston’s impact was sealed, and he continued being an important player to the side.

Competition in the Championship is extremely tight, and clubs rarely have the funds to take a big risk on a single player.

West Brom are no different, especially with Guochuan Lai's ownership in the last few years, but they found a low-cost way around this in the deal for Johnston.

He was out of favour at former club Celtic and was looking for somewhere to kick his career back into life - meaning the club were seemingly willing to let the winger go without any obligation to buy.

Although the Baggies no doubt paid a decent amount in wages while he was at The Hawthorns on loan, the lack of a pre-agreed transfer fee meant that West Brom essentially had a cheap way to boost their goals in the short-term, but also get a long look at the player Johnston is, how he fits at the club and whether he’s a player they’d want to spend a significant amount of money on.

After a few months in the Midlands, it was clear Johnston was their man, and worth every penny of the undisclosed seven-figure fee they eventually dropped on him.

Fast-forward to the winter of 2024 and West Brom could once again do with an injection of goals.

They’ve built up a respectable place in the table, floating around the play-off places, but have been almost exclusively reliant on the goals of Josh Maja.

That’s fine while their talisman scoring, but leaves Corberan’s side exposed to any drop in form or injury.

Now they have the blueprint of Johnston’s move, the Baggies will surely be looking to bring the next figure in to have a similar impact, and maybe use it as an extended trial as they did with Johnston.

Almost a year on from that temporary switch, West Brom must use what they learnt to try and emulate that move, find someone who can hit the ground running, and alleviate the pressure on Maja’s shoulders.