West Brom’s £15 million man Karlan Grant is nailed-on to start again in the Premier League on Monday at Brighton, with Slaven Bilic admitting: “What he needs is match fitness and routine.” The 23-year-old played 73 minutes on his Albion debut in the 0-0 draw with Burnley last week having arrived way short of match fitness. Grant hadn’t played a competitive game since July 22 prior to last week but Croatian chief Bilic will start last term’s 19-goal ace upfront once again at the AMEX.
Slaven Bilic said “He is fit, he is a very lean player but we still have to get him match fit, What he needs is match fitness, routine and a bit of knowing the movements of the other players on the pitch. He can get that through training but the best way is to get it through matches, and that’s the same with match fitness. Karlan didn’t have time to settle in but he didn’t need time because he is a guy from England,” Bilic added. “He knows a lot of the players, he played in youth academies with some of them, he played in the same league – whether League One or the Championship. He didn’t need to introduce himself. That is the reason why it was possible for us to start him against Burnley after only three sessions with us. He has had a bit more time to gel and he looks good in training.”
