West Bromwich Albion have not made an approach for Michael Appleton in their bid to appoint a new manager this summer.

What's the talk?

That's according to a report by Lincolnshire Live, who claim that, despite the Lincoln City manager now being considered to be in pole position to take over from Sam Allardyce at The Hawthorns, there has been no contact made by the West Brom hierarchy regarding a move for Appleton.

It is also reported that the 45-year-old is continuing to plan for Lincoln's upcoming League One campaign, while the Baggies would have to pay the Imps a significant amount of compensation if they were to appoint the former Leicester caretaker manager, who signed a new deal at the LNER Stadium in February.

Fans will be buzzing

There is no denying that Appleton has done a fantastic job since taking over at Lincoln back in September of 2019, guiding the then newly-promoted side to a 15th-placed finish in League One in his debut campaign with the club. He then took them to the play-off final last season, narrowly missing out on promotion to the Championship after a 2-1 loss to Blackpool at Wembley recently.

The 45-year-old also performed impressively in the transfer market, bringing in the likes of Liam Bridcutt and Lewis Montsma on free transfers -who ranked as the club's third and fourth-best performers last season respectively - as well as the loan signings of Morgan Rogers and Brennan Johnson, who ranked as the club's second and sixth-best players respectively in League One.

However, with a manager such as Chris Wilder available this summer, a coach who has a proven track record of securing promotion to the top flight of English football, perhaps a move to West Brom for Appletion could be a bit too soon for him at present, as failure to go back up immediately would likely result in his sacking.

Indeed, this would appear to be an opinion shared by a number of West Brom fans, with one taking to Twitter to state their dismay at what they believed to be their club taking the "cheapest option," while another claimed that Appleton's appointment would see the Baggies back "in League One before we're back in the Premier League."

As such, the news that West Brom are yet to approach the Lincoln City gaffer is likely to have left many West Brom fans buzzing.

In other news: West Brom given huge transfer boost over "magnificent" 28 y/o gem that'll delight fans