Albion have been considering a loan move for Moises Caicedo ahead of Tuesday’s transfer deadline.
But Graham Potter has made it clear they like what they see from the Ecuador international.
Caicedo was brought into midfield at Cardiff City in midweek and played a huge part in the night’s second goal, calmly converted by Andi Zeqiri.
Potter stopped to correct himself when he spoke about Caicedo’s first proper taste of English football.
Not because he had any doubts over the value of those 90 minutes in a competitive Carabao Cup contest.
But he broke off after his reference to English football to say: “Well, Welsh opposition!"
One would expect nothing less from a former Swansea manager.
Caicedo has had to wait longer for action than his army of fans back home were expecting.
He has been on the bench in the Premier League and his chances of some minutes will improve if Enock Mwepu is ruled out of the Everton game.
But he has had to be patient for an opportunity and, so it appears, it may be he has to go elsewhere for serious involvement.
Potter told The Argus: “He has had to be patient.
“He came in halfway through the season, which is never easy to do.
“Obviously this season he missed a bit with his involvement in the Copa America.
“We like him, really believe in him.
“It’s about finding the right pathway for him in terms of into the first team.
“The other night would have been important for him, just to face a British football game.
“That was important for him to just feel that and then of course we need to make a decision in terms of what the next steps for him are.
“Whether it’s closer to our first team, whether it’s a possible loan move.
“We will see, we will make the right call there.
“But we believe in him a lot.”
That answer clearly suggested, perhaps surprisingly, a loan move was being looked at.
Asked for confirmation of that, Potter replied: “As I have said with quite a lot of players, you have got to make the right decision in terms of whether we have got cover enough to make sure we are competitive in the games.
“Then, with each individual, assess what the right thing for them to do is in terms of if there is an opportunity where we can significantly speed up their development.
“As we have seen with Ben (White), it’s a way for the guys to be in our first team, it’s a way for the guys to develop themselves.
“So it’s something you can’t rule out but, equally, he could be in our first team in a couple of weeks.
“That’s the beauty of football. You never know!”
Caicedo’s debut at Cardiff was noted by media back home, not least a tweet from the club which described him as the “machine in midfield.”
That is not surprising. Even his games as an unused sub have been diligently reported.
He will miss three World Cup qualifiers over the next fortnight against Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay with Premier League clubs not releasing their internationals who would have been heading to countries on the Government’s red list.
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