West Brom can kickstart their rebuild in the Championship with a swoop for Gustavo Hamer this summer...

What's the word?

According to The Athletic, the Coventry City midfielder is thought to be on a list of potential targets as the Baggies look to bolster a crucial part of their squad.

Albion's relegation was confirmed on Sunday evening following a disappointing 3-1 defeat at Arsenal and with several key players likely to leave, new additions will be required at the Hawthorns.

The 23-year-old powerhouse has been linked with a move to Scottish champions Rangers in recent weeks. Hamer cost the Sky Blues around £1.5m last summer.

Shades of Yacob

West Brom are set to lose at least a pair of loanees in Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Conor Gallagher, and Celta Vigo's impressive defensive midfielder Okay Yokuslu should undoubtedly attract interest from those in the big time.

Whilst Romaine Sawyers' future remains unclear having fallen heavily out of favour and the same has to be said for club captain Jake Livermore, who hasn't started a game since early February.

The likes of Sam Field and Rekeem Harper could return but given they barely featured in their promotion-winning campaign, it would be hard to envisage them featuring this time around either.

This is where Hamer comes in. After an impressive debut season in the second flight, he's exactly the sort of player that Luke Dowling should be targeting, regardless of who is in charge at the Hawthorns.

The 5 foot 6 dynamo, who has been capped at U20 level for the Netherlands, would be a like-for-like replacement for Yokuslu but he is also versatile enough to play in an advanced midfield role and at right-back - which surely draws some comparisons to ex-Baggies star Claudio Yacob.

Although Hamer has the ability to usurp his quality, thanks to his exploits at either end of the pitch.

Despite playing in a deeper position, Hamer is Coventry's third top scorer with five goals and he's also provided three assists. That's on top of an average of 1.4 interceptions and 1.3 tackles defensively, and a squad-high 1.5 key passes and 1.8 shots per game, via WhoScored.

It's no wonder his manager, Mark Robins, waxed lyrical about his ability to the Sky Blues Extra podcast, where he dubbed him "unbelievable" (via the Coventry Telegraph), whilst pundit Ali Maxwell told the EFL on Quest highlights show that the Dutchman was the "class act" of this Coventry side.

At just 23, Hamer would be a quality addition to West Brom in the Championship and whilst it remains to be seen how much he would command, Dowling should absolutely push to sign what could be their next Yacob.

AND in other news, Big Sam must axe West Brom lightweight this summer following relegation...