West Bromwich Albion's James Morrison Hopeful for More Signings

West Bromwich Albion boss James Morrison says he is “hopeful” of adding more faces before the transfer window closes – and the next one looks set to be a familiar name.

The Championship club are close to striking a deal with Manchester United to bring midfielder Toby Collyer back to The Hawthorns on a permanent basis, in a move understood to be worth up to £7.6m. Collyer impressed during his loan spell in the first half of last season, and Albion have been locked in talks with United over re-signing him.

While those negotiations edge towards a conclusion, Morrison has already begun working with his latest arrival, Spanish winger Kareem Tunde, who joined from Levante this week.

“It’s a big opportunity for him, coming to a new culture, still only being 21,” Morrison told BBC Radio WM. “He’s an exciting prospect and an exciting player, so we’re delighted to have him.

“It just gives us different options now and I felt like we’ve always missed that little bit in games where we could stretch our opposition and he’s got that pace and power that we’ve been looking for.”

Tunde becomes Albion’s eighth signing of a busy summer, but Morrison is not treating that as a finishing line with the 1 September deadline looming.

“I am hopeful,” he said. “There’s been a lot of hard work been going on behind the scenes. We have to do things a little bit differently, we have to be clever about it and I felt that we’ve been doing that because we’ve had a lot of signings.”

The recruitment drive comes against the backdrop of an excellent start to the new Championship campaign. West Brom have taken maximum points from their first two matches, giving Morrison a platform to refine rather than rebuild his squad.

Next up is a trip that means more to the head coach than most. Albion travel to Middlesbrough on Saturday, last season’s beaten play-off finalists and the club where Morrison grew up and began his career.

He has been back often enough now that the raw emotion has faded, replaced by a more measured appreciation of the occasion.

“I’ve been back many times and played, so I’m over that,” he said.

“I can remember my first one going back and I was all over the place, I was terrible. So I learnt from that experience.

“I think my last time there as a player, I ended up scoring and I still remember that feeling. So I’m really looking forward to the game, but also I know this is going to be one of the toughest away fixtures we’ll face.

“But they’ve [the Albion players] set a standard now and they can’t let it drop.”