Toby Collyer Joins West Bromwich Albion from Manchester United

Toby Collyer is set to swap Old Trafford for the Hawthorns, with Manchester United agreeing a deal to sell the midfielder to West Bromwich Albion.

The Championship club have struck an initial £3m agreement for the 22-year-old, with performance-related add-ons taking the total package to £7.6m. United have also secured a hefty 40% sell-on clause, underlining their belief that Collyer’s value could rise again.

This was not a straightforward decision for the player. Collyer had been weighing up offers from both West Brom and Hull City, the two clubs where he spent last season on loan. At one stage, West Brom looked in pole position. Then Hull surged to the front of the queue and appeared ready to close the deal.

The tug-of-war dragged on. Then James Morrison stepped in.

The West Brom boss is understood to have played a key role in convincing Collyer to return to the Hawthorns. The midfielder’s game time there in the first half of last season was disrupted by injury, yet he still did enough to impress Morrison, who pushed hard to bring him back on a permanent basis.

That faith, and the promise of a bigger role, proved decisive. The expectation of more regular minutes in the heart of midfield tipped the balance in West Brom’s favour, with Collyer now set to anchor his future in the Black Country rather than on Humberside.