West Bromwich Albion's sporting and technical director Luke Dowling has endured a mixed tenure in charge of the Midlands outfit since his appointment in 2018.

There have been some questionable decisions made, such as not tying down Nathan Ferguson sooner or signing the likes of Charlie Austin and Kenneth Zohore, who both seemingly have no future at the club.

But he's also made a few calls that have been bang on the money - none more so than the sale of Craig Dawson last summer.

With a year to run on his contract at the Hawthorns, the Baggies cashed in on the experienced centre-back for £6m as he joined Watford, also meaning they got his £25k-per-week wages off the books too.

The previous year, the 30-year-old had tried to force an exit - quite controversially - by handing in a transfer request and opting against Darren Moore's pre-season training camp in Portugal.

In the time between then and now, Dawson has been relegated with the Hornets with Albion passing them on their way back up to the Premier League, and now he finds himself on loan to West Ham, who could join permanently at the end of the season for just £2m.

That means Watford would be making a £4m loss on him, all for one dire season in return.

It could prove to be one of the best financial decisions that Dowling makes at West Brom, and despite having the joint-worst defensive record in English football right now, it's not like Dawson would've been the man to be a difference.

Per WhoScored, he averaged 1.1 fouls and just one tackle per game in the top-flight last season, so he'd surely have been just as porous as Semi Ajayi and Kyle Bartley.

Many of the Hammers faithful are bemused by the deal, especially after links to Brentford's Said Benrahma following the controversial sale of Grady Diangana to the Baggies.

West Brom have been the winners from this saga, that's for sure.

AND in other news, Bilic must make one decision to salvage the worst record in ENGLAND...