James Morrison and West Bromwich Albion must target promotion to the Premier League next season after spending the last few months battling against relegation from the Championship.

The 2025/26 campaign was a disaster for the Baggies, who narrowly avoided dropping into League One, and this summer has to be about retooling the squad for a promotion tilt.

West Brom hit the jackpot with the signing of Matheus Pereira the last time that they were promoted to the top-flight, as they initially signed him on loan from Sporting for the 2019/20 campaign.

The Brazilian magician scored eight goals and provided 16 assists to propel Slaven Bilic's side to promotion in his first season at the club, before signing permanently ahead of the Premier League campaign.

Since he left The Hawthorns upon their relegation from the top-flight, West Brom have failed to return to the Premier League in each of the past five seasons, only making the play-offs once.

West Brom eyeing move to sign Championship star

The Baggies have not made a signing that has made a big enough impact to push the team to promotion since they signed Matheus almost seven years ago.

They are now, though, reportedly keen on a star who could be their best signing at The Hawthorns since they brought the Brazilian to the Midlands.

According to the Sunderland Echo, West Bromwich Albion are one of a number of clubs interested in a deal to sign Anthony Patterson in the upcoming summer transfer window.

The report claims that Coventry, Hull, Derby County, and Millwall, who currently have him on loan, are all also monitoring his situation at the Premier League side.

It states that the Black Cats would be willing to part ways with the goalkeeper for a fee of at least £8m, which means that the Baggies could see an offer of £8m accepted for him this summer.

Millwall were knocked out of the play-offs by Hull on Monday night, which could be a boost to West Brom's hopes of bringing him to The Hawthorns.

Patterson could be the club's best signing since Matheus because he has the quality and CV to suggest that he can help to propel the Baggies to the Premier League, in the same way that the Brazilian did.

Max O'Leary made four errors that led to shots or goals in 21 league appearances this season, including one on his debut for the Baggies against Derby, and the Sunderland stopper could arrive as a big upgrade on him between the sticks

Since signing on loan for Millwall in January, Patterson has outperformed O'Leary by preventing more goals based on the xG against his goal and not making errors that have led to shots or goals for the opposition.

The Sunderland loanee, who kept a clean sheet in the play-off semi-final first leg against Hull, used his exceptional shot-stopping ability to keep Millwall in the play-off positions, finishing just one point shy of automatic promotion.

Patterson has proven that he can play a key role for a promotion-winning side, as he won the play-offs with Sunderland and kept 14 clean sheets in the 2024/25 campaign under Regis Le Bris, and that is exactly the kind of experience that the Baggies need next term.

He also kept 14 clean sheets in 46 games when the Black Cats made the play-offs under Tony Mowbray in the 2022/23 campaign, only for them to lose in the semi-finals to Luton Town.

The 26-year-old goalkeeper is in his third Championship play-off campaign with Millwall this term, and West Brom will not find many players, let alone goalkeepers, with his experience at the top end of the division.

Patterson is a difference-maker between the sticks with his shot-stopping ability, as evidenced by his statistics for Millwall, and he is not as error-prone as Morrison's current number one.

That is why the shot-stopper could be a transformational signing for the Baggies and one that could go a long way to pushing them into contention to earn promotion next season, just as the signing of Matheus was back in 2019.