West Brom have confirmed the signing of Andy Carroll on a free transfer until the end of the season.
The 33-year-old striker, a free agent after his deal at Reading ended earlier this month, is eligible to play against Millwall on Saturday.
Albion have moved for the former Liverpool and Newcastle player after Daryl Dike suffered a hamstring injury on his full debut against Peterborough which will rule him out for eight weeks.
Dike only moved to the Hawthorns from Orlando City for £7million at the start of the month.
Baggies head coach Valerien Ismael told the club’s official website: “Andy is a player who is able to help us straight away.
“He is ready and brings with him all the attributes we need. It could be a win-win situation for us.
“The fact Andy has played plenty of games for Reading recently is great.
“He’s fit after playing those games and he’s scored goals during that short-term deal. Hopefully Andy can now score goals for us.
“After the Dike injury we assessed the situation, because it is a big loss, and it was clear that he had made an impact in that short time.
“We needed to replace him, and we are pleased to welcome Andy who has a lot of experience.”
Ismael also insisted he had resolved the “internal issue” with Sam Johnstone which saw him left out of the squad for Wednesday’s 2-0 home defeat to Preston.
The England goalkeeper will also not play at Millwall.
“We had a matter, we have solved it now and the sanction was that he was not available for the games for Preston and tomorrow. After that he will be back on track,” said Ismael.
The Baggies were booed off after losing to Preston, with fans taking aim at Ismael.
Supporters are unhappy with his style and, with fifth-placed Albion dropping seven points behind the top two in the Championship, the head coach knows he is under pressure.
“We don’t need to talk around it, the performance was not what we expected, the result was not what we expected,” he said.
“I was bored on the sidelines, it was not my team, not my vision. I take full responsibility for the performance.
“I ticked the wrong box for the game plan. I missed everything. The players will have a better game plan on Saturday.
“I didn’t sleep, it hit me, but I know exactly why it happened.”
