West Brom to beat Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday to Rangers target Josh Maja after medical completed Monday

Reporting via Twitter on Tuesday morning (1 August) Cox wrote: “Albion closing in on free transfer Josh Maja. Excitement at Hawthorns at netting long-term target, who Bordeaux wanted to keep and also had interest from Boro & Sheff Wed. Good goal return last term & only 24. Boost for Sat.”

And the Express & Star website it reports: “The 24-year-old underwent a medical at the Albion’s training ground in Walsall yesterday and an announcement of his addition is likely to be imminent.”

Off the back of the departures that have already happened this summer, and with question marks over all three senior goalkeepers currently, this is excellent news for Baggies fans.

It was starting to become a common occurrence that West Brom were ending up disappointed in the transfer pursuits they were engaged in, such as Ethan Ampadu and Dexter Lembikisa, so to come out on top here for a sought-after target is very encouraging.

Maja’s situation was complicated by an investigation in the Bordeaux’s final game of the season in Ligue 2, after the promotion decider was abandoned when a fan attacked a player.

It meant the long-term Baggies target’s status was unclear for some time, as failure to get back into the French top tier would allow him to leave for nothing, but having been confirmed as a free agent the club have swooped in to take advantage.

With only Brandon Thomas-Asante fit as a central striker in light of Dike’s woeful injury luck at The Hawthorns it is a key question answered just in time for the start of the new season.

Whether the former Sunderland and Fulham man will be up to speed straight away is probably a fair question, but if he is in within the next couple of days he should stand a chance of featuring in some capacity on Saturday (5 August) against Blackburn.

In other West Brom news, the Baggies have to pay off an exit-bound player to get him to complete his move away.