Tony Pulis has made a fresh move for Everton midfielder Gareth Barry and hopes to agree a deal in the next 24 hours.
Barry has been told he can leave Goodison Park this summer and is travelling to the Midlands on Tuesday to have a medical at West Brom’s training ground.
Pulis sees Barry, a former England international, as an ideal replacement for Darren Fletcher, who completed a surprise move to Stoke City earlier this summer.
And the 36-year-old is poised to complete his move before this Saturday’s trip to Burnley to become the third major signing for Albion this summer
Barry made 155 appearances for Everton after joining from Manchester City in 2013 on an initial loan. He is second on the all time Premier League appearance list on 628, behind Ryan Giggs.
Though a popular figure at Everton, the Goodison club is looking to add Gylfi Sigurdsson this week in a £45million deal and Barry recognised his playing time would be limited.
He will have a medical today as Pulis looks to make him the first of three new signings.
Pulis is expecting a frantic finale to the transfer window and is targeting at least three more signings, including a centre-half, a winger and a forward.
After the 1-0 win over Bournemouth, Pulis reiterated his desire to bring in new recruits. He said: “We need to get some players in and quickly.. “Everybody from around the football club is waiting for them to come in.
They’ve got to be players that improve us. We will work tremendously hard the next two weeks to give us a better opportunity to do well. The squad’s just not strong enough.
“We only have 17 senior pros so we need to and we’ve got a few at the top age so it just needs restructuring.”