West Brom must rival Middlesbrough to sign an upgrade on Price & Conway

The Championship is such a special league because West Bromwich Albion can have genuine hope that they can get promoted next season, despite just finishing 21st.

Hull City finished 21st in the division in the 2024/25 campaign, one place above the bottom three, before winning promotion to the Premier League, via the play-offs, earlier this year.

It is not impossible, therefore, that James Morrison can lead his team to promotion in his first full season in charge at The Hawthorns, despite a disappointing league finish last term.

They will need to continue to bolster their squad in the summer transfer window, though, to add more goals to the team, after they scored 48 goals in 46 Championship games.

The signings of Barney Stewart, who scored 18 goals last term, and Jimmy-Jay Morgan, who scored 14 goals for Peterborough United, were a good step in the right direction.

West Brom must rival Middlesbrough to Premier League forward

They will have to compete with their Championship rivals to land new attacking talent, as clubs across the league are aiming for similar types of players to secure promotion.

You only have to look at Norwich City’s £9m deal to sign Andre Brooks from Sheffield United this week to see the level of finances involved for proven domestic talent.

Now, according to Football Insider, Middlesbrough are working on a deal to sign Aston Villa winger Lewis Dobbin on a permanent deal in the summer transfer window.

The report claims that Boro want to bring the English forward, who spent the 2025/26 campaign on loan at Preston North End, to the Riverside in the coming weeks.

It does not reveal how much Aston Villa are set to demand for the former Norwich loanee, but the Baggies should look to jump in on a deal for the forward and rival Middlesbrough for his services.

Dobbin is a proven Championship performer who would arrive at both clubs as an excellent addition to their respective squads, as he would be even better than Isaac Price or Tommy Conway on the left flank.

Why West Brom must rival Middlesbrough for Lewis Dobbin

The Baggies must join the race to sign the 23-year-old star, despite a goalless loan spell in the first half of the 2024/25 campaign at The Hawthorns, because he would add some much-needed attacking quality to the group.

Boro and the Baggies are two of the teams who will be in the mix to secure promotion to the Premier League next season, and that means that they need to build as strong a squad as possible to ensure that they can beat off competition from their rivals.

Kim Hellberg currently has Scotland international Tommy Conway as his frontline option on the left flank, whilst Isaac Price has often played there for West Brom.

Both left wingers underperformed against their xG, failing to provide efficient finishing in front of goal, and both failed to deliver more than five assists for their teammates in the best part of 50 matches in the Championship.

Dobbin, meanwhile, racked up 11 goals and eight assists in all competitions for Preston during his time on loan at Deepdale, more goal contributions than Conway and Price managed for Boro and West Brom respectively.

The Villa loanee scored ten goals from 9.15 xG and only missed five ‘big chances’ in the Championship, which suggests that he would be far more efficient than Conway or Price in the final third, as he rarely misses an opportunity to score.

Dobbin also provided his teammates with eight assists in the second tier, three more than Conway and six more than Price, and could offer far more creativity on the left flank than them.

His impressive form for Preston in the 2025/26 campaign suggests that he would be an upgrade for West Brom or Middlesbrough on the left side of their respective attacks, because he has more to offer to the team than the players who currently play in that role.

That is why the Baggies must push to beat Boro to his signature, both to improve their own side and to stop their rivals from strengthening their squad.