West Bromwich Albion are hoping to bank more than £25million from the sale of Matheus Pereira, according to The Athletic's Steve Madeley.

The lowdown

Pereira was the shining light for West Brom last season as they suffered relegation back to the Championship.

He scored more than twice as many goals (11) as his nearest challenger (Callum Robinson with five) and also led the squad for assists with six (via WhoScored).

It was reported in April that West Brom's Midlands rivals Aston Villa were monitoring Pereira, while West Ham are also said to be interested.

The Baggies paid £7.43million to sign him permanently from Sporting Lisbon last summer and committed him to a four-year contract (via Transfermarkt).

As it stands, West Brom's record departure is striker Salomon Rondon, who joined Dalian Yifang for £16.44million in 2019.

The latest

Madeley reports that new manager Valerien Ismael has effectively 'frozen out' Pereira owing to concerns over his performance levels in training.

The player has 'consented' to this decision given his intention to leave the club this summer.

If the Baggies' price tag isn't met, they would apparently consider loaning him out for the 2021/22 and reinvesting the loan fee.

The verdict

Pereira is an excellent player and it's hard to argue that the quoted fee would be excessive. In a desperately poor side, he scored as many goals as Sadio Mane and Marcus Rashford in the top flight.

However, we're currently in a buyer's market, and so they may struggle to offload him for £25million or more.

A loan, with a view to a potential sale next summer, is clearly a compromise, but it would mean missing out on a huge injection of cash for the time being. Even £20million could enable them to build a squad capable of romping to the Championship title.

For that reason it wouldn't be a surprise if they reduced their demands as the window progressed.

In other news, read this journalist's bold Pereira claim.