‘Talks opened’ - West Brom in transfer discussions with Championship rival

Bristol City are interested in signing West Brom midfielder Taylor Gardner-Hickman, according to reports.

A report from the Bristol Post claims that the Baggies’ Championship rivals are pursuing a loan deal for the 21-year-old and that talks have been opened between the two clubs. The Robins - managed by Nigel Pearson - are interested in signing a full-back and Gardner-Hickman’s versatility is of interest to them.

Bristol City have money at their disposal following the £25m sale of Alex Scott to AFC Bournemouth, and now they’re looking to reinvest it into the squad. Garder-Hickman is viewed best as a creative midfielder by Carlos Corberan, and Bristol are also looking in that area for new recruits.

In an update to the story, Darren Witcoop claims West Brom are ‘ready to sell’ and also ‘remain keen’ in offloading Grady Diangana and Nathaniel Chalobah to make way for potential new arrivals.

Garder-Hickman is under contract until the summer of 2026, and to date has made 60 senior appearances for the club. It was reported earlier this summer that Birmingham City were interested in him, though Blues will not be making a move for the player.

Any potential departure of Gardner-Hickman could see West Brom reinvest the money back into the squad. He has so far been limited to substitute appearances for West Brom, playing a total of nine minutes in the league.

Gardner-Hickman did get 69 minutes against Stoke City in the Carabao Cup however, but may want a more prominent role and talks will need to be had between the players representatives and the club as to whether to pursue this opportunity.

Speaking about the transfer window, Corberan said last week: “For us I knew the last week of the market will be the challenging one, because in football this can happen, we need to be ready this week to strengthen our squad, that is the target.

"The adaptability is still there, we knew the summer would be a challenging one, the people working in the market for the club is putting a lot of effort to make things possible to cover the needs but not everything depends on that.

"We know our market was loans or free players, this summer we couldn’t make a different market.

"It’s free or loans with certain financial possibilities, not every free player was available for us, not every loan player was available for us.”