West Brom boss Carlos Corberan responds as Southampton talk escalates

Corberan says it would be disrespectful to West Brom to talk directly about the possibility of joining Southampton, but he has failed to rule himself out of the running.

Albion’s head coach was asked during today’s press conference what he makes of the speculation and his response was more calculated than we’ve seen in previous weeks. Corberan was linked with the Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers jobs recently and his comments were rather ambiguous.

Corberan’s thoughts remain a little vague on this occasion, too, but the difference this time is he’s addressed the potential response from fans. The Spaniard wants to ensure he shows his utmost respect for Albion and the club’s supporters at all costs.

"For me it is disrespectful for this great club and our amazing fans to be talking about something that is not related to West Bromwich Albion,” Corberan told our sister publication, Express & Star.

"Sometimes I feel that if you cut (my comments) to say 'I only focus on the game' and I don't talk about anything else - there can be speculation about this!

"I can only tell you that my full focus is to prepare the next game and I don't like that our fans or anyone else at this club can feel any type of disrespect with all of these rumours that can appear.

"I am clear on this, so I am going to speak about Bristol, about what we are going to do in the club, that I can control, because there are things I cannot control and I cannot talk about things I cannot control."

Regardless of what Corberan says, the talk of him making the move to Southampton is escalating. The Saints, also considering Sheffield Wednesday’s Danny Rohl and former Denmark boss Kasper Hjulmand, are understood to have great admiration for Corberan.

No contact has been made with West Brom yet, however, and a release clause of £3million would have to be activated to secure the 41-year-old’s services.