According to a recent report from Football Insider, West Brom are eyeing up a January move for winger Jacob Murphy. The 23-year-old currently plays his football at Premier League outfit Newcastle United and has done so since leaving Norwich City back in the summer of 2017, although struggles for regular game time under Magpies boss Rafa Benitez has called his future at the club into question.

And a recent report from Football Insider suggests that Darren Moore’s promotion-chasing Baggies are seeking a loan move for the £6.3 million-rated winger (as per Transfermarkt), a move which would go some way to filling the void left by Harvey Barnes, who returned to parent club Leicester City earlier this month.

The Breakdown

Ultimately, England Under-21 international Barnes joined West Brom back in the summer in a bid to get the first team football he was unlikely to get at the King Power Stadium, with the 21-year-old eventually going on to be an absolute revelation under Moore to help the Midlanders into promotion contention.

The winger, who upon return to Leicester has featured in their last two Premier League games, netted nine goals and laid on seven assists in just 27 Championship appearances for the free-scoring Baggies - and with only three of those contributions coming in West Brom defeats, he even produced the goods when it mattered most to win games and points for the Baggies.

Clearly then, his return to the King Power Stadium has left quite the void that needs filling if Moore’s side are to maintain their Championship promotion challenge until the end of the season, but West Brom fans would soon forget about Barnes were Newcastle’s Murphy to make the move to the Hawthorns.

The 23-year-old moved to St James’ Park back in 2017 as Benitez eyed the signings to help keep the newly-promoted Magpies in the Premier League, only for Murphy to start 13 times in the league last time round in their rise to tenth place in the table.

And this term has followed a similar pattern for the former England Under-21 international given he has mustered just nine Premier League appearances so far, with his last start coming all the way back in their 1-1 draw with Everton on December 5 - clearly, first team football is far from certain in the second half of the season.

Yet one mustn’t forget just how impressive Murphy was for Norwich in the Championship in the 2016/17 campaign, the one that ultimately earned him a move to Newcastle, what with the winger netting eight goals and laying on eight assists in just 37 games for the Canaries as they narrowly missed out on a place in the top six.

And that season alone underlines the ability Murphy has to both score and create in the second tier - much like Barnes did for West Brom in the first half of the season, and as such somebody else needs to do in the second half of the campaign to maintain their promotion push.

And with Moore’s men eyeing up an immediate return to the top-flight, having someone like Murphy down the flanks aiming towards the hugely prolific Jay Rodriguez and Dwight Gayle can only spell good news for the Baggies, which is why West Brom fans would soon forget about Barnes were their side to lure the Newcastle man to the Hawthorns this month.

West Brom fans… what do you think? Let us know!