“It must be sad” – Pundit reacts as Birmingham City eye West Brom boss

Carlos Corberan’s representatives have made contact with both Burnley and Birmingham City amid their search for a new manager.

According to Football Insider, the two clubs have both gotten in touch with the West Brom boss about potentially taking charge of the first team squad.

Corberan has earned a lot of praise for his work with the Baggies, having guided them to a fifth place finish in the table last season.

However, issues behind the scenes have made it an unstable period to be managing at the Hawthorns, with the ownership changing hands in January.

It is understood that Corberan is keen to depart Albion despite the new investment, and would be open to a change in club.

Carlton Palmer is concerned that Corberan still wants to leave West Brom despite new owners arriving at the start of the calendar year.

He believes it would be a huge blow for the Midlands outfit to lose the Spaniard, given he has done so well with the club during his time in the dugout.

“Birmingham City and Burnley have made contact with Carlos Corberan’s representation,” Palmer told Football League World.

“It’s a real pity for West Brom because Carlos did a magnificent job last season with West Bromwich Albion, getting them to finish fifth in the table and in the play-offs.

“It must be sad and disheartening for the supporters that even though the new owners have come in, it’s been rumoured that Carlos still wants away.

“That is because there is still plenty of turmoil behind the scenes, he doesn’t want to go into the new season without having the option to bring on players and kick on from the fifth place finish from last season.

“Already players haven’t been re-signed and the season’s just ended, several players are out of contract.

“So you can see that he’s not particularly happy, and the fact that he’s willing to talk to the likes of Birmingham City, who are in the division lower, says how unhappy he is with the situation behind the deal.”

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Palmer expressed his concern for West Brom that Corberan is still keen to leave despite fresh investment in January, but has claimed Burnley would make more sense for him than moving to Birmingham.

“I would have thought that Burnley would be a far better bet for Carlos Corberan, it would surprise me that he would drop down to League One, but having said that the Birmingham City owners have got money,” he added.

“If he’s given the backing, and he can get promotion back to the Championship, or see a project of getting back-to-back promotions with Birmingham, then that might appeal to him.

“But I would think that with the deal for Vincent Kompany done, I would think it would be much more beneficial for him to go to Burnley.

“I mean, 84 games in charge at West Brom, 39 wins, 18 draws, 27 losses, 46.63 per cent win ratio.

“That’s a fantastic statement from Carlos, and it would be disappointing and it would be a huge blow to supporters should they lose their manager.

“It’s worrying that, despite what I said, the new owners arriving at the club that he still wants out of the football club, very concerning.”

West Brom finished fifth in the Championship table, but missed out on promotion through the play-offs with a semi-final defeat to Southampton.

If Corberan is so unhappy at West Brom that he would take the step down to League One just to get out of there, then that’s a pretty negative sign for the Baggies.

Corberan has done well in difficult circumstances, and the hope now would’ve been that new owners could have backed him in the transfer market, which he lacked under the old regime.

West Brom’s loss could be Birmingham’s gain if he makes that switch, and that would be a hugely exciting appointment for the Blues to make.

It would be a sign of their ambition if they could convince him to move to St. Andrew’s but, at the same time, they shouldn’t waste their time on pursuits that go nowhere so they need to be certain of his interest before taking this any further.