Tony Mowbray is keen to retain the services of striker Marc-Antoine Fortune even if West Brom are relegated.
Mowbray keen for on-loan striker to extend stay
Tony Mowbray is keen to retain the services of striker Marc-Antoine Fortune even if West Brom lose their battle to stay in the Premier League.
Fortune, who moved to the Hawthorns in a loan switch from Nancy in January, bagged a brace in Saturday's crucial 3-1 win over Wigan which lifted the Baggies to within three points of safety with two games remaining.
The French forward's weekend brace took his tally for the season to five in 15 Premier League appearances and he has impressed many with his performances in a lone striking role.
Newly-promoted Wolves have been linked with a summer move for his services, while Mowbray admits that other clubs could also be interested.
While he accepts that Fortune is far from the finished article, he believes the striker would be well served by continuing his footballing education with the Baggies, regardless of which division they are playing in.
Develop
"Depending on which paper you read there are a lot more clubs than Wolves interested," Mowbray told the club's
official website.
"He is a good player but I am not going to build him up too big. I could say he hasn't scored enough goals. He has plenty of parts to his game that he needs to work on.
"And yet I like to think this could be the club where he can grow and develop, and keep going.
"If we did go down I hope he sees this as the place that he would like to stay.
"He enjoys the atmosphere around our training ground and will try and help us bounce back. Obviously I would like to keep him."
