West Brom comment: Jay Rodriguez has pedigree but his injury record is worrying

Albion desperately need a goalscoring striker to compete with Salomon Rondon and Hal Robson-Kanu, but they also need more options behind them.

Rodriguez is not known as a target man, even though he’s 6ft 1in. He played as a second striker under Nigel Adkins and thrived under Mauricio Pochettino, cutting in off the left in the same 4-2-3-1 formation Pulis currently prefers.

But he’s bulked up recently, and his best performance under Claude Puel last season came against Bournemouth when he scored two goals from a central position.

Pulis is a huge fan of versatility, and there’s a feeling Rodriguez has the potential to offer that in spades in his system.

Up front, off the striker, or off the wing – the 27-year-old has experience in all roles. But the big question mark looming over his head is his injury record.

Southampton are willing to sell because the England international, who won his only cap back in November 2013, has never returned to the heights of that season, when he scored 17 goals in all competitions, and 15 in the Premier League.

That season was cut short in April, when he ruptured his anterior cruciate knee ligament in a cruel twist of fate just months before the World Cup.

The next two seasons were plagued with injury and yielded just three Premier League starts. He was fit last term, but failed to find his rhythm under Puel.

He showed glimpses of his former self, scoring six times in 34 appearances, although it’s worth noting only 13 of them were starts.

There are those on the south coast, including the player himself, who feel he will be able to rediscover his scoring form with a healthy run of first-team starts.

If that turns out to be the case, then the £12million which is being mooted for a striker who can score between 10 and 15 goals a season would be great business in this summer’s market.

What’s more, Albion’s medical team had the best record in the Premier League last season, and Pulis will be confident that, should he arrive before the annual trip to Austria, Rodriguez will be finely-tuned by the time the season rolls around.

If he’s not up to scratch, history suggests he won’t get through the door. The Baggies pulled out of a £15m deal for Diafra Sakho last summer when he failed a medical, even though they desperately needed a striker at the time.

If Rodriguez does join, it will be a signing 12 months in the making. The Baggies were all set to bring him in on loan last summer before Southampton pulled the plug after he scored against Sunderland in the third game of the season.

Pulis also tabled a £10m bid in January, which Saints rebuffed because Charlie Austin’s injury left them with just two strikers in a team struggling for goals, which sounds painfully familiar.

They brought Manolo Gabbiadini in on deadline day, and by then, it was too late.

Now there is nothing standing in the way of Pulis getting his man, and it’s hoped a deal can be agreed once Rodriguez returns from holiday in late June.

The saga is reminiscent of a similar one that was resolved last summer. When Matt Phillips arrived in the Black Country in early July, it was another signing 12 months in the making.

Phillips was certainly worth the wait, and there are tentative signs that – should he stay off the treatment table – Rodriguez will be too.