West Bromwich Albion head coach James Morrison believes there is still more business to be done – and he expects it to be smart business.
The Championship side are close to completing a deal worth up to £7.6m to bring Manchester United midfielder Toby Collyer back to The Hawthorns, this time on a permanent basis after his loan spell in the first half of last season. Talks with United have been ongoing, and Albion now look ready to get it over the line.
Morrison is not hiding his intent. With the window ticking towards its 1 September deadline, he wants more.
“I am hopeful,” he told BBC Radio WM. “There's been a lot of hard work been going on behind the scenes. We have to do things a little bit differently, we have to be clever about it and I felt that we've been doing that because we've had a lot of signings.”
One of those signings is already under his microscope. Spanish winger Kareem Tunde arrived from Levante this week and has immediately caught the head coach’s eye.
“It's a big opportunity for him, coming to a new culture, still only being 21,” Morrison said. “He's an exciting prospect and an exciting player, so we're delighted to have him.
“It just gives us different options now and I felt like we've always missed that little bit in games where we could stretch our opposition and he's got that pace and power that we've been looking for.”
Tunde becomes Albion’s eighth new arrival of the summer, a figure that underlines the scale of the rebuild. Yet Morrison’s comments make it clear he does not see the squad as complete. The early signs, though, are emphatic: two wins from two in the new Championship season have given his reshaped side a surge of confidence and a platform to build from.
Next comes a different kind of test – and a personal one.
Albion travel to Middlesbrough on Saturday, last season’s beaten play-off finalists and the club where Morrison’s own playing career began. For many managers, a return to their hometown club might stir sentiment. Morrison has been through that already.
“I've been back many times and played, so I'm over that,” he said. “I can remember my first one going back and I was all over the place, I was terrible. So I learnt from that experience.
“I think my last time there as a player, I ended up scoring and I still remember that feeling. So I'm really looking forward to the game, but also I know this is going to be one of the toughest away fixtures we'll face.
“But they've [the Albion players] set a standard now and they can't let it drop.”
The transfers may not be finished. The message, though, already is: the bar has been raised, and Morrison expects his players – and his club’s recruitment – to live up to it.
