First team coach Gerry Francis admits Jonny Evans and Nacer Chadli could leave West Brom

Speaking on Sky Sports News, Francis said Albion wanted to keep their ‘best players’ if possible, especially because the squad isn’t as deep as the coaching staff wants it to be.

But the experienced coach admitted that interest from other clubs unsettled players.

Albion have turned down an £18m bid from Manchester City and a £21m bid from Leicester City for Jonny Evans, while Arsenal are also reportedly interested.

And the Baggies are bracing themselves for a three-way tug-of-war tomorrow.

“The problem with clubs that don’t have the financial clout of others at the highest level, when a top level club like Man City and Arsenal come in, it’s going to turn people’s heads,” said Francis.

“Even though he’s an experienced player happy at West Brom it does unsettle players. When you consider what the financial rewards are, you can’t blame him (if he did want to move).

“But at the end of the day, the clubs are going to have to decide, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the next 36 hours.

“He’s our club captain, he’s been a very good player, I can’t fault him, he’s been excellent to work with.

“We don’t want him to go but it remains to be seen what’s going to happen.

“When other clubs come in for him, it shows you bought the right player.

“From our point of view we’ll all be happy if he stays, but at the end of the day it’s out of your hands.

“So many people are after him, I’d like the window to have closed 24 hours earlier.”

Francis admitted that Chadli could also exit tomorrow. Albion are willing to sell the Belgian if Swansea meet their £25m asking price.

“He did really well when he came in,” said Francis. “But then he had a bad injury.

“Other people are interested in him and want to pay good money for him, it’s the same as Jonny Evans. Again like Jonny, he could be one moving on.”

However, Francis said the club wanted to keep both players in order to keep the squad size large enough.

“It’s important we have a strong squad, we haven’t had a big squad for some time,” he said. “We’ve had four or five kids in the squad.

“We’ve got to get things settled, it’s not exciting to lose your best players.

“The late deals are very difficult, if you get late money can you actually spend it in time.

“I don’t envy managers, chairmen and financial directors at this stage because it gets really tight.”