West Brom will not be renewing the contracts of three members of their first-team squad this summer.
West Brom start planning for life in the Championship
West Brom will not be renewing the contracts of three members of their first-team squad this summer.
Pele, Carl Hoefkens and Jared Hodgkiss will all be released once their current deals expire at the end of the season.
Sherjill MacDonald will also be leaving the Hawthorns, having already agreed a move to Antwerp, while loan stars Jay Simpson and Ryan Donk will return to Arsenal and AZ Alkmaar respectively.
The Baggies are hoping to trim their playing staff to 20 professionals ahead of the 2009/10 campaign, with the option to bolster their numbers through the loan market and the club's promising crop of youngsters.
"Buying players is certainly a possibility but what has proved successful for us over the last few seasons is the strategy of loaning players with an option to buy them - players such as Ishmael Miller, Juan Carlos Menseguez and Youssouf Mulumbu fall into that category," Baggies chairman Jeremy Peace told the club's
official website.
"It gives them the chance to come in and prove themselves and meanwhile we can see what type of characters they are.
Strengthen
"It can de-risk a longer-term deal and is therefore a good way to go.
"This summer we want to bring people in who can further strengthen the team even though we've gone down a level."
Peace also has high hopes for the club's academy stars next season and expects a number of graduates to be pushing for a place in Tony Mowbray's plans.
"We've got some good young players coming through," he added.
"Being in the Championship next season will give some of those younger players the chance to get into the first-team squad sooner than they would have done had we been in the Premier League."
