West Brom look set to beat Watford to new signing

West Bromwich Albion enter the summer transfer window knowing that they have to improve their options at the top end of the pitch ahead of next season.

The Baggies only scored 48 goals in 46 games in the Championship during the 2025/26 campaign, and failed to score in three of their last six games under James Morrison.

Now, the club are reportedly closing in on the signing of Chelsea attacking midfielder Jimmy-Jay Morgan for a fee of £1.3m, after he spent last term on loan at Peterborough United in League One.

The 20-year-old talent, who can play as an attacking midfielder or as a second striker, scored 12 goals from 9.28 xG in the third tier of English football, and will now get the chance to test himself in the Championship.

They need the added attacking reinforcements because Josh Maja and Karlan Grant’s respective futures remain up in the air, with their contracts set to expire at the end of this month.

West Brom hopeful of signing new striker

The club are hoping to tie both of them down to new contracts to keep them at The Hawthorns, but nothing is guaranteed until they put pen to paper.

However, Morrison is already looking at another addition to the squad, after Morgan, who could arrive as an even better option than Maja in the number nine role.

According to the Express & Star, West Bromwich Albion are hopeful of completing a deal to sign Falkirk centre-forward Barney Stewart during the summer transfer window.

The report claims that the Baggies want to bring the Scotland U21 international to The Hawthorns as well as a deal for Morgan, rather than instead of, and they are confident that they can win the race for his signature.

Stewart has previously been linked with Championship rivals Watford, as well as Scottish giants Celtic, which means that the club will have to beat off competition from some big teams to land the 22-year-old striker.

However, it remains to be seen how much it will take to convince the Scottish Premiership side to part ways with the SFWA Young Player of the Season.

Why Barney Stewart would be better than Josh Maja for West Brom

Even if Maja commits his future to the Baggies by putting pen to paper on a new contract at the club, the striker could find himself playing second or third fiddle at The Hawthorns.

Aune Heggebo was the club’s top goalscorer with nine goals in the Championship and looks to already be ahead of the Nigerian forward, and Stewart’s arrival would place another player between him and the starting line-up.

Even if you only count Stewart’s form from the second half of the season after he returned from his loan spell with Dunfermline, the Scottish star looks like a much better option than Maja.

In less than half as many appearances, the Falkirk star scored twice as many goals and provided twice as many assists as the Baggies striker, who underperformed against his xG.

These statistics are without taking into account that the Scotland U21 international also scored four goals in 11 appearances in the Scottish Championship on loan at Dunfermline in the first half of the campaign.

Stewart excelled in the Championship and the Premiership in the 2025/26 campaign, offering a consistent and clinical threat in front of goal, whilst Maja badly underperformed for West Brom in England.

These statistics suggest that the Falkirk star would improve Morrison’s attack by providing more goals and more assists than Maja in the centre-forward position, hopefully winning more points to push the team up the table in the process.

On top of being better than Maja in possession, Stewart also won 4.9 duels per game and 56% of his ground duels and 44% of his aerial duels in the Premiership for the Scottish side.

Meanwhile, the West Brom striker won 1.8 duels per match and lost 62% of his ground duels and 65% of his aerial battles in the Championship, which suggests that the Falkirk ace would also offer more physicality as a focal point at the top end of the pitch.

Therefore, signing Stewart this summer could be a fantastic piece of business by the club as an instant upgrade on Maja for the head coach.