Gabriel Tamas is on his way to West Bromwich Albion

Dec 28 2009 by Christopher Lepkowski, Birmingham Mail

GABRIEL Tamas should be announced as an Albion player early next week.

The Baggies have agreed terms with Auxerre over a loan move for the Romanian, but the move cannot be completed until the international window opens on January 2.

As that falls on a Saturday, Tamas cannot realistically be considered for action until Albion’s game against Nottingham Forest on January 8 – and that is assuming all the red tape has been cleared.

Jonas Olsson welcomed the prospect of his new team-mate’s arrival.

“I know he’s a Romania international, that’s about it, and that he’s a central defender,” said Olsson.

“But bringing in players in the January window is important to widen the squad and strengthen competition in the team, good players are always welcome.”

Whether Robert Koren will be around to see in Albion’s latest signing remains to be seen.

Koren has hinted he wants to move on, having failed to nail down a spot in the centre of Roberto Di Matteo’s midfield.

The manager, though, still hopes to keep the Slovenian international.

“I had a conversation with him about a month ago where we talked about the fact he is not playing regularly, and we said we would review it in January,” said the Baggies boss. “We are going to sit down and if he thinks he isn’t playing regularly enough we might look at his situation if he wants to leave and if it’s right for the club to let him go, but it would have to be right.

“He is under contract and, to be honest, I don’t want to sell him.

“He is a very good player but I look at my team and think we have a balance at the moment and the players who are playing in those positions have done well.

“I told him that as soon as there was a chance for him to get in the team he would be in, and that’s the situation so we will review it in January.

“I understand his position. He is going into the World Cup as captain of Slovenia and he wants to play regularly.”

Di Matteo explained why Koren had not figured against Peterborough.

“He trained all week but then he picked up another little injury to his knee on Thursday and that took him out of the Peterborough game,” he continued.

“Otherwise he would have been available for selection.”

Koren was also due to miss today’s game against Scunthorpe.