England keeper Sam Johnstone was dropped from West Brom’s squad after a row with boss Valerien Ismael over team selection.
Now Premier League suitors could come in for the shot-stopper before Monday’s transfer deadline.
Johnstone was not involved in the Albion squad for Wednesday night’s 2-0 home defeat to Preston and will not travel to Millwall on Saturday either , Ismael has confirmed.
Johnstone, who has made 24 starts this term, was available in midweek after serving a three-match suspension for his red card against Cardiff earlier this month.
But the ace,28, who has three international caps, was stunned and angry to learn he was being left out of the starting XI against his hometown club.
After the row , Ismael opted not to even include Johnstone in the squad altogether as he kept faith with David Button and put youngster Alex Palmer on the bench.
The argument has thrown ex-Manchester United trainee Johnstone’s future into doubt with his contract up this summer after declining fresh terms.
He had been planning to stay this month but the row will alert West Ham, Spurs and Southampton, who are all admirers.
Johnstone has been Albion’s regular No.1 since joining in 2018 from Manchester United.
Last term he got rave reviews as he made 166 top-flight saves and broke into the England squad despite the Baggies being in the drop zone for most of the season.
Albion have been desperate for Johnstone to sign a new deal to avoid losing him on a free transfer in the summer.
His exclusion for the Preston match left team-mates baffled as the side slumped to their first home League defeat of the season.
Johnstone must now wait to rejoin the squad for the trip to Sheffield United on February 9 as he looks set to miss five straight games.
The row adds to Ismael’s headaches at the Hawthorns, where fans were fuming in midweek after one win in six games.
Ismael, who was without new striker Daryl Dike due to injury, assessed: “It’s no excuse [Johnstone’s omission] for us.
“We cannot afford to find excuses to drop into victim mood.
“We have no excuses for that performance, we are professional, we meant to put in a performance.
“It was a poor performance.
"Every time we've had a chance to close the gap on teams around us this season we’ve missed it, and this is another one.
"We didn’t produce the right performance and we didn’t manage to do all the things we wanted to carry out, but there can’t be any excuses.
"It was a strange feeling and we didn’t expect to see this, especially after the win against Peterborough on Saturday.
"The good thing about football in the Championship is that there’s another game and another opportunity in three days time for us to bounce back.
"We have to show a reaction, embrace the fight and now we need to show another mentality."
