Slaven Bilic gives West Brom transfer update

Slaven Bilic refused to rule out a move for a defender but did confirm there will not be a move for a third forward ahead of the transfer window closing tonight.

The Baggies confirmed the signing of Hull winger Kamil Grosicki this morning and also snapped up Sheffield United forward Callum Robinson in a loan deal on Wednesday.

Bilic, though, confirmed a third attacker will not be arriving before tonight’s 11pm deadline despite links with Newcastle’s Christian Atsu and Burnley’s Matej Vydra.

A defender could still arrive however with Nathan Ferguson still in line to complete a move to Crystal Palace despite a medical issue holding up the deal.

Another player Albion have been linked with is Watford midfielder Domingos Quina.

Bilic stopped short of ruling out a move for the youngster - who he managed at West Ham.

Read more:

• Kamil Grosicki joins Albion
• Inside track on Kamil Grosicki

But he also says he expects Rekeem Harper to step up and feature more in the closing months of the season.

On a defender, the head coach said: "We are monitoring something, maybe we are going to get another body there because we don’t have that in the building. We don’t have that in the building."

Albion have the option of bringing in a free agent after tonight's deadline with Swedish international Martin Olsson on trial.

"He is one of them also, that we are trying to do," Bilic said.

Asked about his interest in Quina, the head coach said: "I love Domingos.

"I had him at West Ham a few years ago. Of course, he is very talented, very good.

"But we also have players like Rekeem Harper here that I expect to step up."

On an additional forward, Bilic added: "No. We can’t bring 50 players in. No."

Ferguson is still expected to complete his move to Crystal Palace despite a medical issue holding up the deal.

And Bilic admitted he was surprised to hear about the issue after the defender completed 90 minute at Cardiff on Tuesday.

"I can only tell you that Nathan was fully fit and available for the game against Cardiff," he said.

"He was very close to playing against Stoke but we didn’t want to risk him.

"He has that small issue with his knee but for Cardiff he was fit. I had a couple of talks with him, in Cardiff, but it was not about if he was physically fit.

"It was more about if he was mentally there. So when they (Palace) decided to – on Wednesday or yesterday – tell us there was an issue there with the medical check I was very surprised.

"That is what I know, to be fair. There is an issue there. But as I said, he finished the game.

"Okay, you don’t talk to every player about how they feel after the game. But he finished the game in a normal way. That is why I am surprised."

Bilic revealed Albion held talks with Palace about Ferguson remaining on loan at The Hawthorns for the rest of the season.

But it is understood Ferguson's camp were against the idea.

"We wanted to keep him," the Croatian added.

"And I am going to finish with this because I want to talk about the players that are here and we have a big game tomorrow.

"I want to talk about the players that want to play for his club and the players that we brought in.

"We did our best. Since day one we did our best to keep him. We wanted to keep him.

"We wanted to do a deal with Palace that would see us keep him until the end of the season. We tried everything but that didn’t want that so finished."