West Brom boss Carlos Corberan has said it's "impossible" to rule out the reintegration of Karlan Grant at The Hawthorns next year if he succeeds at Cardiff City.
The winger has been a mainstay on the left wing for Erol Bulut this season and has, by and large, impressed. By his own admission, he would have liked to have scored more goals this term and his end product has lacked on occasion, but overall he has been a solid addition. Cardiff fans will expect there is more to come.
The Baggies forked out a whopping £15million for him three years ago and he signed a six-year contract in the Midlands. However, West Brom manager Corberan believed Grant needed time away from the club in order to discover his best form. When quizzed over the player's future, the Spaniard said Grant is being monitored carefully and his situation will be assessed next year.
"It's impossible to close doors on players who are a part of this club," Corberan told our sister title BirminghamLive. "They still have contracts - Grant has two years more from next summer. It's a case of when you have these feelings, and you are watching everything you have done, you re-evaluate how everything is working. Grant is playing every single minute, and I'm pleased.
"He's not been changed. In the last games he hasn't been a player the coach has been using to change. This is important when they're playing every single minute - it means the coach believes in him and because he deserves this.
"With Grant I'd say, before he went for the loan, that the way he came to pre-season I was thinking that this is a player who wanted to recover his level and we considered that the best way for him to rediscover his level was to move him from here. After, in the summer, in the right moment, we will re-evaluate the situation."
He added: "Right now, the players in the Championship, Grant and [Taylor] Gardner-Hickman, they are playing regularly and that's very positive news for us, it's positive for us as a club and in the moments that I can find time to dedicate to look at them in more detail, I share it with the staff because we like to see everything that they are doing.
"We find moments in the year where we can find distributions of the game and we can have a look in detail at them. For me, especially the players who have been in the Championship before - or, like Grant, in the Premier League - you cannot treat them like you would the other players, who are having the first loans of their careers.
"With Gardner-Hickman I was talking with him when I saw him when we played against Bristol and he couldn't play. I was talking about him with the coach [Nigel Pearson] and now they've changed the coach. When we play Cardiff I will do the same with Karlan Grant. They are players I respect a lot, they are players I consider both very good players, but we accept that the best way for them and for us was to separate ways this season and re-evaluate the situation and make the best decision in the summer."
Grant has started 14 of 16 Championship games for Cardiff this season, coming on as a substitute in the other two. He has a goal and two assists to his name and City supporters have really taken to him, even if he did miss a crucial chance to put Cardiff 3-1 ahead against Norwich City on Saturday, a game they eventually lost 3-2.
That will come with confidence. A few goals could really see him get out of the traps and that is likely what Corberan is alluding to regarding the player rediscovering his best form.
Grant himself has said he is yet to have any contact from the Baggies top brass or coaching staff since leaving the Black Country this summer. Bulut himself has been quizzed about whether he would want to make Grant's signing permanent next summer. The Bluebirds boss said: "He cost a lot for West Brom. Of course, the club at the end of the season, I don't know the financial situation at West Brom, so maybe they will try to keep him or maybe they will try to sell him.
"I think right now it's too early to speak about that. We still have many games in front of us, so at the end of the season we can talk about that.
"KG, after every game, he has the best results in running and high distance. Maybe he loses some goal chances, but this will come. He is working hard and the goals will come. In the past he did a great job. If it’s £15m, £20m, if someone is paying so much for you.
"I trust him because he is working hard. I see it in training and in every game. Running, fighting. Some other players who are not playing, and some who are playing, should look at him and how much he is working."
