From 'perilous' position to 'pipeline of talent'

BBC News

06-02-2025

West Bromwich Albion sporting director Andrew Nestor says the club are in a much healthier position in terms of satisfying English football's profit and sustainability rules than they were prior to their change of ownership almost a year ago.The former Bologna director and Tampa Bay Rowdies president was chief executive of Bilkul Football Group, Albion's owners, when he took on his Albion role in mid-August, two weeks before the close of the summer transfer window.But he described Championship club Albion's PSR position when Bilkul took over in late February from Guochuan Lai as having been "perilous"."We are continuing to strategically navigate this situation," he said, "whilst remaining competitive in the league and investing in the club's future through the decisions made in these last two transfer windows.
"The average age of the squad weighted for minutes played was the oldest in the Championship and the fifth-most expensive."We have since been assembling a cohesive squad built around a more offensive-minded style of play. We have reinvested in key players that were already here, as well as new impact acquisitions and several top players under 21. The average age has been reduced and we have created capacity to continue future investment."Our squad planning model is centred around creating a mix of peak-year performance players in the 23-25 and 26-29 age categories, and young developing U23 talents. This can enable the club to compete at the highest level, but also develop players and optimise trading opportunities."We believe the squad adjustments made in the past month help us tremendously as we seek to adopt a more attack-minded playing style, create a pipeline of top young talent, and simultaneously reinforce the squad."The overarching strategy for 2025-26 is in place and, behind the scenes, we have aligned and bolstered our scouting and data capabilities."