Done Deals: 5 game-changing signings this week
Countdown to Kick-Off #7 | Have signings for West Brom, Cardiff, Leicester, Sheffield Wednesday, and Tranmere just shaken up our pre-season thinking?
We’ve done the eye-catchers. We’ve followed the intrigue. We’ve picked out the deals we simply couldn’t resist writing about, driven by each writer’s individual curiosity. Now it’s time to reveal a different hand: the game-changers.
This week on Done Deals, NTT20.COM’s weekly transfer bulletin, we’re looking at the signings capable of changing the complexion of a season. The players who make you reconsider what you thought you knew about a team.
And this is only one part of what we’re doing on NTT20.COM to preview the new season. If you haven’t already, start a free trial and get full access to our Countdown to Kick-Off. It’s our biggest EFL season preview ever, and let’s face it, you won’t find anything else quite like it.
1. Felix Horn Myhre (CM/AM) - [Brann - West Brom] - Undisc.
Craig Bradley
My childhood home was almost directly between Villa Park and The Hawthorns, and while my allegiances have always been Claret and Blue, here I am for a second week in a row heaping praise on a new Baggie Boy. If there’s one thing I can’t be accused of, it’s bias.
Horn Myhre had been with Brann for the previous five seasons before this move, becoming a fan favourite. His departure was announced to supporters ahead of the weekend’s 3-2 win over Rosenborg and, after the game, he addressed those in attendance through a megaphone as he was given a hero’s farewell. At Brann and across wider Norwegian football, Horn Myhre was considered unfortunate not to have been called up to his country’s World Cup squad.
West Brom aren’t signing a youngster for the future here.
Prime-aged Horn Myhre will be expected to adapt and contribute quickly. The 27-year-old is just shy of six feet and, to be honest, isn’t the most physically gifted. At Brann, he mostly featured as a left-sided eight in a 4-3-3, with a defensive-minded player sitting behind him and allowing him creative licence.
Despite operating from the left, Horn Myhre is right-footed and heavily favours his natural side. He’ll give and receive with his right foot and attempt outside-of-the-boot passes rather than play off his weaker left. It’s in his creative and technical ability that Horn Myhre flourishes. He’s progressive with his actions, able to manipulate his way out of tight spaces, has very good spatial awareness, a wide passing range and clean ball striking. That’s his game.
Horn Myhre is a different type of player to Albion’s current workmanlike central midfielders, Messrs Molumby, Mowatt and Diakité. Artist. Not soldier.
That’s good news for West Brom, but it also poses the question of where he’ll fit into a James Morrison 4-4-2. Myhre’ll give him something different, but perhaps it’ll be narrowly on the left of the four, or even off a striker. Using him in a central midfield pair would leave them vulnerable defensively, and you can’t play on broken strings!
