Albion today began an expected busy summer of transfer deals with Luke Moore and Kim Do-Heon both signing permanent deals after impressing during their respective loan spells at The Hawthorns. Moore has joined from local rivals Aston Villa for an initial £3 million pounds after signing on loan in February with Korea Republic international midfielder Kim signing a two-year deal, plus a further year's option in the club's favour, from Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma for £550,000 after the Baggies exercised their option on the deal.
In truth both players had only bit parts during the promotion winning season with Moore's spell interrupted by a combination of suspension and the form of Kevin Phillips, Roman Bednar and Ishmael Miller. Although starting just one start and six substitute appearances, Kim scored the all important opener at
"The four months he has already spent with us will have been a big benefit to him in terms of integrating with the squad and overcoming the language barrier," Albion boss Tony Mowbray said.
"I'm now looking forward to working with Kim next season.
"His loan spell was all about settling into a new club and culture but he's got undoubted talent and he'll have a more significant part to play next season."
A highly rated youngster who progressed through Villa's youth and reserve sides, Moore's fee could rise to £3.5 million depending on performance-related criteria, the England Under-21 international has penned a three-year contract, plus a further year's option in Albion's favour.
With more than 90 Premiership appearances to his name Mowbray is confident
"I think Luke will be happy to start next season afresh, with everyone on a level pegging trying to force their way into the starting line-up," Mowbray continued.
"That's the way it will be.
"They'll all have an opportunity in pre-season to get to maximum fitness as quickly as they can and perform in the pre-season games.
"I'm sure Luke will be looking forward to that, as opposed to coming in more than halfway through the season when the team were up and running and scoring goals.
"I'm confident he'll have a good time here.
"All footballers need an opportunity.
"Coming in halfway through a season sometimes isn't the right time - particularly if the team's doing well.
"It wasn't as if we were looking for a saviour to come in and score lots of goals because the team were already doing that very freely.
"Luke had to be patient, bide his time and then he got sent off against
"It didn't quite run for him.
"But now we've achieved the ambition of getting to the Premier League, which I'm sure is the reason he joined us in the first place, he'll have an opportunity to show what he can do - like everybody else."