West Brom have had a poor record when it comes to finding strikers to lead their line.

In recent seasons alone, we've seen the likes of Kenneth Zohore and Charlie Austin come and go, almost in a flash, but it could have been all so different had they kept hold of Kemar Roofe.

The 28-year-old has thrived since the Hawthorns hierarchy - at the time, Jeremy Peace was chairman - sanctioned his permanent exit to Oxford United for an undisclosed fee.

At the time, he was only 23 and had shown glimpses with six goals in 16 starts, but within three weeks of the 2014/15 season finishing, Roofe was sold to the League Two club for what was surely a minimal fee.

He has since blossomed into a hugely prolific goalscorer, making that decision to let him go look sillier with each passing season.

Roofe has since scored a whopping 77 goals across spells at Leeds United, Anderlecht and SPFL front-runners Rangers in the subsequent six seasons following his permanent departure - that's an average of 12 goals per season...

Where is Roofe now?

The Walsall-born frontman is loving life at Ibrox this term, scoring 12 times across the SPFL and Europa League.

As mentioned above, that same number is his average per season, so he's on track to bypass that easily - and more damningly, this level of return is something that Albion has not seen in several seasons.

On their way to promotion from the Championship last term, only Austin (ten) and Hal Robson-Kane (ten) could hit double figures.

The 2018/19 campaign was an anomaly, with Dwight Gayle and Jay Rodriguez both surpassed 20 for the season - neither remained at the club.

Whilst between 2015/16 and their relegation season (2017/18), no Baggies player managed to reach nine or more goals, so evidently, there's been a long-standing trend at the Hawthorns.

Perhaps, Tony Pulis - West Brom manager at the time - should've considered the future a bit more whilst in charge, just maybe Roofe would have benefitted from another loan spell and just maybe, the Midlands outfit would have benefited from his own ability, or at the very least, more money.

Leeds United eventually sold the Baggies youth product to Belgian giants Anderlecht for £7m, which should have Albion reeling even more than they already should be.

It was one calamitous and short-sighted decision to offload him and one they are still paying for now.

AND in other news, West Brom could find their next Jason Koumas in 19 y/o "real talent"...